Jet Force Gemini: Remnants
by Nex the Slayer
Summary: The Jet Force Team is attacked on a routine mission to Goldwood. Clueless at first, the Team becomes more and more deeply ingrained in a far reaching conspiracy as they race to uncover a secret from the Universe's past that could annihilate them all. Nostalgic Locations, Old Friends, New Enemies, and more green blood than you can wag your tail at! Chapters 20, 21 UP!
1. Grounded

A stream of scalding hot water flowed over Vela's hair, back, and down to her toes. The shower was refreshing, and she breathed in the steamy air while feeling the water trickle down her arms, legs, and fingers. A timely "ding" sounded over the speaker in the bathroom, reminding her that her time to wash was limited. She regrettably shampooed her hair quickly, and finished her shower.

It was a new day at the United Military Head Quarters, and unfortunately, paperwork waited for no one. Vela sighed as she dried herself with a towel. It had been nearly a year since the defeat of Barry and his Mizar guise, an act which had several long-standing consequences. The Gemini team had become famous overnight, and was the talk of the planet. Interviews, adoring fans, even sponsorships came to flock around the newly recognized heroes.

The unwanted attention made both Vela and Juno uncomfortable, and instead they opted to move from their once quiet apartment to live on the UMHQ base to avoid the public eye.

Of course, there were also those who despised the Gemini team. Numerous factions of anti-military recluses were enraged by the independent actions of Juno, Vela, and even Lupus, and made attempts to sue them in court for "generally increasing universal hazards". The military defended the team, and managed to have all the cases dropped, saying that the team had an "excuse for damage".

As a result of the power of public opinion, the Jet Force Gemini team had been, in effect, demoted to doing paperwork. Still the Gemini team in title, they spent their days dealing with internal military issues and… paperwork. Needless to say, Vela did not enjoy this in the least, and had grown to loathe her trade.

Vela, still wrapped in her towel, walked into the living room of the quarters she shared with her brother and dog. The news channel was on the television, with a reporter at the scene of a crime, a rare occurrence in this day and age. Crime had been all but eradicated on Earth, and the only real reason for any kind of military was to protect to people from other-worldly threats like the Drone Army. She sat to watch the short news broadcast. It wasn't anything too serious, just a kid with a case of sticky fingers.

Vela sighed. It was good that all was right with world, but… it was almost _too _peaceful. There were no impending threats, no cataclysmic events, not anything. Not for the first time, Vela began to feel unneeded. The purpose of a military is to protect and serve… but if there's nothing to fight, no objective, then what's the point?

As Vela pondered, the doorbell rang. "Hold on, I'm coming!" she called out as she left the couch and made her way to the door. She was halfway there when she realized that she still didn't have any clothes on! "Ah! Ummm! Can you hold on for a minute?" Vela asked through the door.

"Uh, yeah." A male voice responded.

_Who is that?_ Vela wondered as she quickly threw on some underclothes and a bath robe. Her still damp blue hair lay flat against her back, just past her shoulder blades. As she used the towel to finish drying her head, she tapped the video monitor near the door. A man in a dark brown jumpsuit stood in the screen, wheeling a rather large box on a dolly.

She opened the door and stuck her head out, looking at the box, then the man. "EPS?" she inquired.

"Yep. All military personnel on base are getting new cleaning drones for their quarters. I just need you to sign for it here." He held out a clipboard and pen for Vela to sign.

"New cleaning drones? Didn't we just get new ones last month? I thought they were good for two years!"

The EPS Mailman lifted his hands. "I don't argue; I just deliver the packages. If you don't want it, it's just gonna sit in the mailroom."

Vela stared for a moment. "Fine. Hand it over." She reluctantly signed the clipboard and let the Mailman wheel the package into the living room. "Thanks," she tossed as he closed the door behind him on the way out.

This was just plain wasteful. Why buy new Cleaners already? Vela was slightly irked, but decided not to make a big fuss. Still thoroughly bored, Vela resumed her position on the couch and continued to watch the news, her eyes slowly beginning to droop. Her interest peaked when the space news came on. Her eyes opened wide when she realized that the current news story was about the Drone Army.

"…odd movement of several once abandoned Drone ships is causing some citizens to worry. While no threat has been declared, and no Drone activity has been confirmed, the mysterious disappearance of these supposedly abandoned ships is seen by some as a bad omen, or at the very least, fishy. In other news…"

The story ended, and Vela quickly went back to being bored. It didn't matter if something "fishy" was going on. With the team's current status, they couldn't do anything if they wanted to. They were, quite literally, grounded.

About five minutes later, Vela heard the familiar bleep of a card key. The front door opened to reveal Juno and Lupus, weighed down nearly to the breaking point with bags of groceries. Juno waddled his way to the kitchen with Lupus not far behind, and set the bags down on the floor.

"Good morning, oh sister of mine. Slept in a little today, did we?" Juno jested in a British accent. He was wearing civilian clothing with a ball cap, and Lupus was wearing… nothing, of course.

"We got a package," she pointed out, ignoring his sarcasm. "Apparently, we're all getting new Cleaners today."

"That's… odd…" Juno commented.

"Yeah, just a little." Vela walked into the kitchen and started to help the boys put away the groceries, and started to put on a fresh pot of coffee for Juno. She continued talking as she poured the grounds. "I ought to go wring Jensen's neck. Cleaning drones are expensive."

"If you feel so strongly about it, why don't you go talk to him about it?" Juno asked, not so sincerely. "I'm sure he'd like your input."

"I'm not getting within fifty feet of that perverted old man." Vela responded curtly. "What kind of uniform regulation is _pigtails_? I bet he did it just to satisfy himself. I guess that's a perk of being the Admiral…"

"Well, then I guess you can't complain," Juno furrowed his brows. "Uh… how much coffee are you going to put there?" Vela realized she had still been pouring the grounds.

"Oops…" Vela observed her handiwork for a moment before shrugging. "I hope you like it strong."

Juno grunted. As he finished putting away the last of the groceries, he re-filled Lupus' food bowl.

Lupus, never one to miss food, instead opted to observe the box in the center of the living room. He approached it, circling several times and sniffing all around. Juno watched him, slightly concerned.

"Something wrong, boy?" he asked.

Lupus let out a low growl, barked twice, then sat down in front of the box and tilted his head.

"There's something off about it, but he can't figure out what." Vela read Lupus' reaction like a book. Since becoming a team, each of them had come to understand each other in a way that sometimes went beyond words, which came in handy, since Lupus couldn't talk.

"Well, if Lupus thinks something's off, then…" Juno turned back to Vela. "…er… what are you putting in my coffee?"

"Huh? This is…" Vela looked down at her hands, moving in auto-pilot. In her hands was a seasoning she didn't recognize, and in the other…

She quickly shoved both hands behind her back, and hid them from Juno.

"The normal stuff," she replied innocently. "Why?"

"Vela… what's in your hand?"

"N-nothing," she said, hands still hidden. At that moment, the video phone rang, causing all three sets of ears to perk up. "Go answer the phone, I'm not dressed!"

Juno reluctantly walked over to the television and answered the call, while Vela went into her room to change. Lupus stood at Juno's heel, eager to see who was calling. An older man dressed in full uniform appeared on the screen, his desk littered with mounds of paperwork and discarded pens.

"Captain," the man acknowledged.

"Admiral! I mean, sir!" Juno fumbled for his military bearing. "Yes sir?"

"Captain, I need to see you and the rest of the Gemini unit in my office in full gear, prepped for launch in thirty minutes."

"Sir?" Juno was taken completely by surprise. "Are we going off-world, sir?"

"Captain, this is an unsecured line," the Admiral's voice echoed in the apartment. " For me to say any more is a violation of possibly classified information. Just get here. In thirty minutes. Am I clear?"

"Crystal, sir," Juno quickly replied.

"Good. I'll see you when you arrive."

The message ended, and the boys sprung into action. Lupus ran to his outfitter and pushed a button with his paw. The machine clamped Lupus in between his two-part battle suit, and started attaching guns as well. Juno poured his coffee into a thermos and started changing. "Vela! Vela, we've got orders! We're going on a mission!"

Vela's door opened, and she stepped out, already in full battle gear with Tri-rockets in hand, a pistol tied to her waist, and hair tied into perfect pigtails.

"That's the best news I've heard all day."


	2. UMHQ

(Recommended listening: Read or Die OAV OST, Track 12. Find it now on "KeiichiAnimeForever")

Juno, Vela and Lupus, now fully armed to the teeth with weapons and combat ready uniforms, walked briskly down the main corridor of the UMHQ control building. Their boots clicked on the glossy tile floor, and the team drew the attention of nearly every person within sight. It was natural. No one had seen the Gemini team in full uniform for almost a full year.

The team walked past a group of dumbfounded NCOs, making their way to the elevators. Juno shifted nervously as they waited for an elevator to arrive. Vela eyed her brother out of the corner of her eye. The stares from the people around them could be readily felt, like pinpricks. She knew it was making him nervous. Hell, it was making her nervous, too. The only one unaffected was Lupus, who seemed happy no matter what the situation.

The elevator doors opened, and Vela directed it to the Control Center, at the bottom floor of the compound. The elevator set off immediately, rapidly descending many levels beneath the ground. Within a minute, the doors reopened to a bustling office space with state of the art computer consoles and a giant projection of the Earth on the ceiling. This was the nerve center, the room where all intelligence from home and abroad was sent to be scrutinized and categorized. Enemy broadcasts, weapons development, troop movement; it all converged here.

The Gemini team made their way along the outer edge of the room, keeping close to the wall. The Control Room was filled with some of the greatest minds in the galaxy, human and alien alike; getting in the way of a smart person with a giant ego was not something anyone on the team wanted to deal with. The Admiral's office was ahead, at the south end of the room. Having come in from the north entrance, Juno and the team were halfway there, near the east wall.

Without warning, several alarms began to shriek and red lights started flashing around the room! Automated turrets, built into the walls and ceiling revealed themselves, and aimed toward the west wall, the Control Room's second entrance. Vela, pistol already drawn and at the ready, made her way to the source of the commotion. Juno and Lupus, caught off guard, followed closely on her heels.

At the west entrance, a poor, startled cadet stood with his hands raised and a puddle forming at his feet. He had dropped the box he had been carrying, and all eyes redirected towards it after a moment.

"Enough! Enough! Stand down, all of you!" a loud and commanding feminine voice resounded above all the rabble. A middle aged woman with jet black hair down to her shoulder blades stepped forward, cigarette in hand. "It's just one of those damned cleaning drones again!" The woman stooped down and picked up the box, opened it, and took out a miniature robot. The turrets immediately retracted into the ceiling, and all the guards relaxed.

The woman spotted Vela amongst the cubicles and smiled in recognition. She made her way through the crowd of civilian computer whizzes to the group, holding the robot in her hands. "These new cleaning drones are the newest in their line, but the new software has been setting of our alarms all morning. It's been hell trying to find the subroutine that's causing it while still getting all of my work done."

Vela smiled, then lowered and holstered her pistol. "It's good to see you too, Karen."

Karen took a long puff of her cigarette while observing the team, squinting from behind her glasses. She was the civilian in charge of the Control Room, her authority only dwarfed by that of the Admiral himself, whose decisions almost always backed hers. "It's been awhile, kiddos. I haven't seen you all in full uniform since Mizar… and we all know how _that_ turned out."

Juno was reminded of the fact that no one on Earth besides him and his family knew that Mizar was really Barry. "You have no idea…" he muttered.

"What was that?" Karen asked. Lupus made a low growl and nudged Juno's leg.

"The cleaners were a bad idea!" Juno caught himself.

"Yeah, well maybe you can get the Admiral to do something about that. The whole things been driving me batty… you _do_ have a meeting with him, right?"

"Yeah," Vela replied before looking at her watch. "We need to go, actually. Now. Good luck with the cleaners."

"Ugh… don't remind me." She took another huff of her cigarette before returning to her work station.

Juno led the way to the exit at the south end of the room, and Vela chuckled to herself as she faintly heard Karen cursing the Cadet who'd relieved himself on the floor. Lupus trailed behind the siblings, his tail wagging without a care in the world. Through a set of double doors, a lengthy hallway, an extensive security system and another set of double doors, the Gemini team came to a final door with a golden placard: Admiral Jensen.

Juno took a deep breath and knocked.


	3. The Admiral

"Get in here," the Admiral's voice resounded. Juno looked back at Vela, who nodded. He opened the door and stepped into the well lit room. The Admiral's office was about as large as the Team's entire Family Quarters, maybe even a little bigger. On the walls were picture's of the previous Fleet Admirals, as well as some of Jensen's personal effects. Jensen, a rather fit elderly man, sat behind an oak desk stacked with mounds of paperwork.

"Sir!" Juno snapped to attention in sync with Vela and Lupus. "Jet Force Gemini, reporting for duty!"

"What took you so long?" he spoke deeply over the scratching sounds of pen on paper. Juno opened his mouth to speak. "Nevermind, just stand there for a moment!"

After he'd finished writing on whatever paperwork was in front of him, Admiral Jensen pressed a button on the wall behind him. The desk started to sink into the floor, taking all of the accumulated paperwork with it. Once fully recessed, the floor closed seamlessly over the hole, leaving only the Admiral.

Jensen sighed and straightened his dark blue uniform. "I suppose you're wondering… why I called you all in."

"I'd be lying if I said we weren't curious, sir." Juno responded.

"Well… I'm afraid Rosco has gone missing. I need you to fulfill his mission."

"Uh… Rosco? Sir?" Juno fumbled. "Where did he go missing?"

"That's not important. I just need you to fill in for him."

"Fill in where, exactly?" Vela interjected.

"The Award ceremony, of course," Jensen explained. "Didn't you remember? The Annual Award ceremony is today. Rosco was supposed to be the Master of Ceremonies, but we can't find him anywhere! I need you three to do the ceremony."

It was like a child had just died. The Team's countenance hitting rock bottom was nearly audible in the silence that followed Jensen's explanation.

"I don't want to sound disrespectful, sir, but I didn't think… we were here for something… like that." Juno spoke slowly.

"Oh? What did you have in mind?"

"Something… not here."

"Well, I'm sorry kiddo," the Admiral continued. "I really don't have any use for you three besides what you're doing now. The galaxy is peaceful, intergalactic trade is good, the Tribals continue to send us monthly updates on their progress, and you three have personally overseen the rebuilding of the other eleven Jet Force Teams! What more do you want?"

"Not this!" Vela blurted out. She couldn't contain herself any longer. "Send us to personally check on the Tribals! Maybe they're not as well off as they seem! Why not send us out to investigate the missing Drone ships? If the space community truly is safe, why not let us out more? We won't shoot anything that doesn't shoot us!"

Jensen paused. "My hands are tied on this one. All three of you know that if it were up to me…"

"It _is_ up to you." Juno and Vela nearly shouted at the same time. Lupus barked in agreement.

The Admiral looked down at his uniform. "Well, what do you know… it _is_ up to me!" he looked back up to the hopeful face before him. "You have a go. I know you haven't stretched your legs in awhile, so why don't you head over to Goldwood and visit the Tribals? I know they'd appreciate you dropping in."

Juno and Vela couldn't contain their own smiles as they snapped to attention once again. "Yes, sir!"

"Although… let me make one thing perfectly clear. You are not, under any circumstances, authorized to investigate those Drone ships. I already have the other Jet Force teams working on the situation, and I'm sure they can handle themselves. After all… you trained them."

"Understood, sir," Juno replied.

"Now get the hell out, before I make you do the ceremony out of spite!" he yelled with a grin.

Not needing to hear him twice, the twins and their loyal dog sprinted out of the office.

Admiral Jensen watched them go, smiling to himself, wishing he was young again. A thought occurred to him, and he quickly glanced outside his office door before pushing his desk button. The oak desk rose from its place underneath the floor smoothly and quietly. Working quickly, he grabbed a bottle filled with an amber liquid and a glass cup, and placed them on the table. He paused again, listening intently for anyone that might be nearby.

Grinning again, he started to pour…

"Admiral Jensen!" Karen's voice boomed in the spacious office. Poor Jensen, startled nearly to death, jumped two feet into the air, sending the bottle flying. Karen stepped through the front doors to the office, deftly catching the bottle in mid-flight and placing it on Jensen's desk.

"Oh! Uh… Karen! How… nice to see you…"

"Can it," she responded sharply. "You know better than to drink on duty. Since you just finished a meeting, I knew you were free. What's the big idea with all these new cleaning drones? We just got new ones, so why are you wasting our funding on something we already have?"

Jensen quickly stowed his liquor, clearly disappointed. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes, you do," Karen shot back. "You authorized it. Here's the paperwork right here." She dumped _another_ stack of papers onto his desk, making the all too inhuman amount of work seem even more impossible. "This is your signature here. See?"

"Hmmm…" Jensen furrowed his brows. "I suppose I did." He looked back at Karen, eyes wide, as if to say _what's the problem?_

"They're too new. Their OS is setting off our security sensors left and right. Like it or not, you're sending them back."

Jensen nodded. "I agree. Can you see to it for me?"

"Nope." Karen took a long puff from her cigarette. "It was authorized by you, so every single page of this document has to be _un_-authorized. By you."

Jensen grimaced as he stared at the foot tall stack. "Every single page?"

"Every. Single. Page." Karen looked back to the door and whistled. Three EPS men walked into the room, each rolling a dolly cart stacked with paperwork. "By the way, that stack's only the first clause."

Jensen's panicked eyes rolled to the back of his head as he slammed it against the desk. "Noooooooooo…"


	4. The Launch

(Recommended listening: Autumn Thunder 75 Seasons Suite, time 0:00-2:20. Some of you may recognize this theme from the JFG Promo Video on VHS with that annoying announcer guy that Nintendo mailed out to every kid in America. Just sayin'.)

"This is like a dream come true!" Juno exclaimed as he, Lupus and Vela entered their starship. The crisp, clean interior seemed brand new, and practically was, since it hadn't been used since being commissioned.

"Did you see the look on the Flight Officer's face when you said we were going off-world?" Vela pointed out. "His eyes opened so wide, they almost fell out of his head!"

Lupus ran past them into the ship, heading straight for the living quarters. A small munitions chest between two twin sized beds was emblazoned with the name "LUPUS" across the front. Without hesitation, Lupus began unpacking his weapons into safety containers and storage units within the chest.

"I think Lupus is more eager than either of us to get out of here," Juno leaped onto the twin bed with red covers, while Vela plopped down on the blue bed. Lupus quickly completed his packing, and howled at the twins on their beds.

"Just… give me a minute," Juno buried his face in his pillow. "I want to savor this moment…"

With a low growl, Lupus bit Juno's hand. "All right! I get it! Moment is over!" Juno pushed himself up and threw his legs over left side of his bed, facing his own munitions chest, where he methodically began placing his weapons in storage.

"Juno?" Vela asked quietly.

"Yeah?" Juno answered, only half listening, focused on the task at hand. He was surprised at how many of his weapons still had ammo packs loaded into them, even after not being used in so long. Their munitions charge was probably long gone, though. Good thing he'd brought extras…

"Juno!"

The elder twin paused. Vela knew he hadn't been paying full attention, and had called him on it. He breathed in deep and let out a sigh, then half turned so he could see Vela. "What's up?"

"How about we keep our weapons with us for the flight? Just this one time?"

"Vela… you know we can't do that. It's part of our pre-flight checkoff." Juno continued stowing his guns. "If we didn't do it, they wouldn't let us off the launchpad."

"Then lie about the checkoff."

"We do these things for a reason. What if one of these guns went off during our launch-to-warp sequence? We'd be done-zo."

"Remember what happened the last time I asked and you said no?"

"Yeah…" Juno became pensive. "…all our friends died."

Vela closed her eyes to hide the fact that she was rolling them. She hopped from her bed over to Juno's and sat next to him. "You know that's not what I meant."

"I know," Juno admitted. He himself wondered why he'd even brought the subject up. "Sorry. But rules are rules. I'll pull rank if I have to… Commander."

"Aye, aye Cap'n," Vela acquiesced. "But if something happens to my Tri-Rockets _this_ time, it's coming out of _your_ wallet."

Lupus barked his agreement.

* * *

"Tower, Gemini: Pre-flight checkoff complete, Jet Force Gemini is ready for take-off." Vela's voice came in over the loudspeaker in the Air Traffic Tower.

"Pre-flight checkoff complete, Jet Force Gemini is ready for take-off, Gemini, Tower, aye." The Flight Officer responded while he rechecked their flight path and ship vitals.

"Gemini, Tower: this is Lieutenant Werther, you are go for launch at platform one, I repeat, you are go for launch."

"Go for launch, Tower, Gemini, aye. Gemini out." Vela completed her repeat-back before powering up the starship's main thrusters.

The three Gemini members were on the bridge, Juno and Vela both strapped in their shock harnesses in preparation for the jump to warp. Lupus, on the other hand, got a high from experiencing the effects of warp jumps, and sat in front of the main console, staring excitedly out the front window.

"Oh, so you'll bend the rules for _him_, huh?" Vela accused.

"Why should I keep him from enjoying himself?" Juno replied.

"Ugh… men." Vela mumbled under her breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing. Warp drive is functional, green lights across the board." The starship rose from platform one, quickly climbing into the air. After three hundred feet, the ship's nose rose to face upward, making the twins lie flat on their backs and Lupus lie on the front panel of the main console. "If he throws up, you're cleaning it."

"Yes, mother," Juno replied.

With that, the starship jumped to warp speed, carrying the team halfway across the galaxy.

* * *

Author's Note: In case no one knows the premise for the original JFG game, The twelve Jet Force teams were on standby in the Tribal's solar system, waiting on permission from Earth to intervene in the Drone Army's hostile takeover. However, due to "politics", an answer was not readily given, and the Jet Force teams were ambushed and eliminated. The Gemini team only barely escaped after sustaining heavy damage to their ship, and were in orbit above Goldwood when the Spawnship caught up to them. They decided together not to wait, and took matters into their own hands. Thus, a great Sci-Fi game was born.


	5. Goldwood Revisited

(Recommended listening: Mombasa by Hans Zimmer, from Inception)

Within twenty minutes, the Gemini team entered the X0032 system, the Solar System the Tribals called home.

"Powering down the Warp Drive down from eighty percent to twenty-five percent," Vela announced. "We're ready to begin our approach to Goldwood."

"Aye," Juno acknowledged. "Taking manual control, and taking the ship into geosynchronous orbit around planet Goldwood."

Juno's display lit up, and he began the procedure for orbit around Goldwood, something he could have merely let the computer do for him. The meticulous older twin didn't like the idea of someone (or something) doing his work for him, though. Easing the ship into a stable orbit underneath it's asteroid belt felt good, and he almost did it automatically. Everything proceeded smoothly… almost smoothly.

"It's good to see you haven't lost your touch, Captain Juno," Vela teased, as a small meteorite bumped off the Starship's force field. "I'm sure that was just a fluke."

"Oh really?" Feeling a healthy amount of his competitive spirit returning, Juno decided to wipe the smug grin off of Vela's face. "Why don't we test it out and be sure, eh?"

He began typing at the main console, and the computer's voice came over the intercom. "Force field de-activated. Danger. Moving into vicinity of Goldwood's asteroid belt."

"Uh… Juno," Vela's smile was long gone. "What are you doing?"

"Flying," Juno responded.

The ship veered up, away from the region between Goldwood and it's asteroid belt, into the deadly labyrinth of rocks that orbited the planet. Juno grasped the joysticks that controlled the ship's thrusters, and rocketed the Starship forward at a speed that almost made Vela scream. She would have, too, it she wasn't paralyzed with fear.

With incredible speed and dexterity, Juno manipulated the controls, easing around rocks as big as houses, avoiding catastrophic collisions by mere feet. Smaller asteroids, normally much harder to see and avoid, almost seemed to move out of the way of the ship, as if Juno was intimidating them somehow.

After a minute or two, Vela began to calm down. _It's okay… it's okay… he's using the targeting system on the console… using that, even I should be able to drive the ship without hitting something. _Vela forced herself to look over towards Juno, who was looking straight forward towards the front window. The targeting console on Juno's left was completely dark.

"What the hell are you doing?" she screamed. "You're not even using the targeting system? Are you _trying_ to get us killed?"

"And now, for the finale…" Juno announced. He pulled up, driving the out of the asteroid field and away from the planet for a few seconds, then flipping the ship to look directly at the planet. He set the power rating for the main thrusters to one hundred percent and glanced over at Vela. "Are you ready?"

"No." Vela shook her head as she realized what he was going to do. "No, no, no, no…"

"Aaaaaaaaand… GO!" Juno pushed forward with the joysticks, propelling the Starship straight towards the asteroid belt. Bits of Goldwood's lush forests peeked through openings between the asteroids. Bits that quickly became larger as the planet and belt rushed to meet them.

"_Nononononononononono!" _Vela freaked. The ship blew through the asteroid belt in a millisecond, passing through unscathed. Now past the belt, the planet itself loomed in front of them. Vela knew if Juno didn't activate the shields soon, the Starship would burn to a crisp in Goldwood's atmosphere in seconds, due to the increased friction caused by their insane speed.

"_Juno!" _Vela screamed.

"Almost there," Juno ignored her.

"_JUNO!" _Vela screamed louder.

"Now!" Juno flipped the ship one hundred and eighty degrees, and punched the thrusters to maximum in the opposite direction. The sudden opposing forced caused the ship to shake and buckle, but in mere moments, the ship had stopped, held in place above Goldwood by continuous thruster burn.

"Computer, engage the force field and take us down to Goldwood on a normal flight path." Juno ordered while sighing. He unbuckled his straps as the ship righted itself, standing up and facing Vela. "Now, was that some fancy flying or what, sis?"

_SLAP!_

Vela breathed in and out slowly in large, shaky breaths. Tears streamed down her clearly pissed face. "How could you?" she yelled at him. "I was scared for my life! And yours! And you just ignored me?"

Juno rubbed his face with his hand. It smarted, and he hadn't seen it coming at all. Now that it was over, though, Juno felt waves of guilt crash over him. "I… I'm sorry."

Vela scoffed, then turned and strode off the bridge, still crying.

"Shhhhhhhhhhit," Juno swore at himself. He let himself get carried away, like he always used to… before… he shook his head. He didn't want to remember that. Being cooped up on Earth for a year had made him careless. Not with his abilities, but with his relationship with his sister.

_I decided I wouldn't be that guy… not anymore._

Juno was about to go after Vela when a certain lack of presence caught his attention. "Lupus?"

he called out. Juno ran over to the front of the bridge where Lupus had been sitting before the warp jump.

Lupus was laying down in front of the console, his legs twitching and his eyes completely shut. Exhausted from the warp jump, Lupus had slept through the entire ordeal.

"Jeez… get yourself together, Lupus," Juno shook his head as he left the bridge after Vela.

* * *

Author's Note: Had gigantic bursts of inspiration for this story, so the material has literally been flowing from my fingertips like pus from an open sore. It's grossing my friends out. Anyway, to those of you expecting more Shadow the Hedgehog, you'll have to wait a bit longer. Sorry...


	6. The Welcoming Party

(Recommended listening: The Book of Peace by Harry Gregson Williams, from "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas")

In the hallway outside the bridge, Juno attempted to reconcile with his sister. Vela, still shaken up by the ridiculous stunt show he'd attempted, refused to face him and wouldn't be consoled.

"I'm sorry."

"We could have died," Vela stated, forcing herself to stay angry.

Juno felt the urge to say what he wanted rise, almost like there was another him, thinking his thoughts and whispering to him. He suppressed it and repeated himself. "I'm sorry."

"You should be!" Vela yelled as she turned to face him.

"I promised I wouldn't be that guy anymore!" he yelled back. "Remember? I chose you and Lupus over my ego, and my pride! I promised I would never put you two in a dangerous situation myself! But… I let it get the best of me, for a moment… and no amount of apologies can properly convey the guilt I feel right now. This is all I can do, okay? Vela… I'm sorry."

Vela could hear the sincerity in his apology, and could see the guilt in his eyes. She sighed and buried her head in his chest. "Okay… I forgive you." Juno relaxed, then stiffened as Vela wrapped her arms around him tight, compressing his ribcage. "But if you ever do it again…" she tightened her grip, cracking several of Juno's vertebrae.

"I got it! I got it!" Juno gasped for air.

"Good… and while we're on the subject, I think I have the perfect punishment for you," she sniffed and wiped her eyes. "Wait on the bridge, I'll be there in a minute." Vela collected herself and disappeared into their quarters.

"Great," Juno moaned.

* * *

Juno re-entered the bridge, wondering what Vela had in store for him. The clouds of Goldwood obscured any vision through the front window. Lupus, who'd noticed that the twins had disappeared, was up and moving around, monitoring the control consoles.

"Have we gotten any contact from Goldwood yet?" Juno asked.

Lupus turned and tilted his head.

"So, no then. We gave them technology to keep in contact with us, and detect any ship that got close… I wonder why they haven't hailed us yet."

A growl escaped Lupus' bared teeth.

"Now, now… let's not jump to conclusions," Juno warned as he sat in his chair. "You know as well as I do the Tribals aren't all that great with technology. It probably broke, and they don't know how to fix it… or forgot altogether."

Lupus sat down on his back legs, and resigned himself to watching what little view there was through the window. It was then that Vela returned to the bridge, holding Juno's coffee thermos and a cup of steaming coffee.

"Here you go," Vela announced, placing it in front of Juno.

"What is this?" Juno asked.

"Your punishment. Drink it."

"What did you do to it?"

"I may have accidentally take some… uh… liberties this morning when I made it. I wasn't going to give it to you, but… well, just have a sip."

Juno paused, his heart fluttering at the implications of Vela's general deflection about what she'd put in it. He picked up the cup and brought it up to his nose, breathing deeply…

Vela and Lupus watched as Juno swirled the coffee around in front of his nose, then take a sip. And then another. Then as he downed the entire cup in one gulp. Juno slowly put down the cup as his eyes furrowed.

"Was it bad?" Vela teased while Lupus sniffed the coffee thermos. The Starship had finally descended beneath the clouds, and the landing pad stretched out in front of them.

"No… it was good."

"Good? Then, why are you making that face?" The Starship came in for it's landing, slowing it's descent with it's thrusters. A small river and bridge appeared in the front view from the ship.

"Because I've only had one cup of coffee that's ever tasted this good. And that was right before we got attacked by…" a flutter of movement ahead caught Juno's eyes. No less than twenty insectoid figures, covered in and camouflaged by the mud of the river, were rising to their feet, wielding highly explosive rocket launchers.

"…_drones!_


	7. The Underground

(Recommended listening: Final Flight Instrumental by Postition Music)

Juno leaped into action, grabbing Lupus around the waist and Vela by the hand, sprinting towards the hallway that led to the bridge. As they reached the open doors, the front of the ship exploded, blasting the three Jet Force members down the hallway.

Juno skidded to a halt in front of the room to their quarters. As he righted himself, he though about grabbing weapons. _Too risky, _Juno shoved the idea out. _We can't, not while the ship is exploding around us. Too much can go wrong. And if Vela has the idea to grab weapons, she'll never leave the ship._

"Come on!" Juno shouted to the other two, grabbing Vela and ushering Lupus down the hallway, past their room. He breathed as sigh of relief when he realized that Vela was too stunned to remember that they had weapons.

Meanwhile, the drones at the front of the ship continued to fire on the defenseless Starship, causing massive secondary explosions. The lead Drone ordered the soldiers to continue firing, until there was nothing left.

"How the hell did those rockets get past our shields?" Vela gasped as they ran full speed towards the back end of the ship. It didn't make sense to Vela. Their shields had been up since they entered the atmosphere.

"They're low-velocity rockets," Juno explained. "The shield won't stop something that isn't traveling very fast; that's why we can normally walk right through! Someone has been teaching the Drones some new tricks!"

"What are we going to do?"

"First, we're going to get outside. Then we'll regroup." Juno was in auto-pilot, his training kicking in. He could feel his war zone mentality returning bit by bit. He began taking longer strides, and his back straightened. His breathing evened out, and his thoughts became sharper. This wasn't his other self… this was Juno.

"Roger that," Vela replied. She had sensed the change in her brother's pace, and it was instinctively influencing her own. She felt her muscles loosen and her eyes focus. She reached up to her head and undid her pigtails without breaking stride, her shoulder-blade length hair extending behind her.

Lupus could feel his body ache. It felt good. He'd been with the twins since they'd been born, and though his age had started to show on Earth, now that he was on Goldwood, Lupus' old war dog spirit began to seep into his joints. Pain was his friend; Age was a close companion. Lupus' body seemed to float forward as his legs seemed to move with a speed where his feet were touching the ground again before they even left.

The team reached the back hatch of the ship, and Vela hit the open switch.

Nothing happened.

She tried again. And again. Nothing.

"I think the power's out," Juno offered.

"No shit, Sherlock," Vela returned.

Lupus tilted his head at both of them. _Now what?_

A high pitched humming caught all of their attentions. It was coming from the other side of the hatch! Juno motioned to the others, and they positioned themselves on either side of the door, ready to ambush whoever (or whatever) stepped through.

A glowing orange blade pierced through the rear hatch like a knife going through hot butter. Juno and Vela stared at it's tip with wide eyes as it proceeded to cut a circular hole in the door effortlessly.

Vela and her brother's eyes locked. _We can't fight something like that!_

The hole cut from the door dropped to the ground, and a large white lump of fur appeared in the gap. Juno and Vela's eyes locked again, except this time with looks of confusion. _What the hell?_

Minding the hot edges, the lump of fur entered, along with the rest of his body. Wearing simple clothes, the creature in front of them was without a doubt a Tribal! The Tribal had taken a few creeping steps into the ship before it had the mind to check behind him.

He instantly spotted the team, and his humongous eyes widened even more. "Jet Force… Gemini?"

"Uh…" Juno glanced at Vela, who shrugged. "Yeah, we are."

* * *

The Tribal straightened. "Come with me if you want to live."

Outside, the Tribal hurriedly pushed the team towards a man sized hole in ground, hidden in the shadow of their ship. The Tribal jump in feet first, fearlessly. Lupus jumped in next, followed closely by Vela, then Juno. The ship continued to rock and swoon under the endless barrage of rockets from the Drones, who obviously weren't convinced the team was dead yet.

The team found themselves in an underground tunnel, just tall enough to keep Juno from hitting his head on the ceiling. Two other Tribals, both female, stood further down in the tunnel, and both their eyes lit up with joy when they saw the Gemini team.

"No time to reminisce," the male Tribal took the lead. "We need to get out of here. Let's go!" He turned on a flashlight he had in his pants and led the way through the tunnels. They hadn't taken more than fifteen steps when Vela abruptly stopped, causing Juno to nearly run her over.

"What is it?" he asked.

"My Tri-Rockets…" she whispered. She whipped around to go back only to be stopped by Juno. "Juno! My gun is back there! All my ammo is back there! _Let me go!_"

"That suicidal talk, Vela!" Juno stood firm. "Let it go, you have plenty back home! And I'll get you a new gun, like I promised, okay?"

"No, Juno… I thought this might be our last time off-world!" she paused, then continued. "I brought _ALL _my ammo!"

"You wha- oh, shit!" Juno wrenched Vela off her feet and bolted down the tunnel. "Run faster! Run fa-"

Juno's cry was drowned out by an explosion that caused the entire tunnel to wobble, as if the walls and floor were made of jelly. Juno shone his own light behind them, where the supports for the tunnel had all shattered, and dirt had begun raining down from the ceiling.

The Drones relentless onslaught had finally reached their quarters, where Juno, Lupus, and Vela's sorted ammo had gone up in flames simultaneously, including all of Vela's two thousand, six hundred and twenty three Tri-Rocket rounds.

"Go, go, go!" Juno screamed, as the tunnel collapsed around them.


	8. The Tribals

(Recommended listening: Start To Investigate by Sagisu Shiro, from the second BLEACH movie OST)

Vela was unconsolable.

The Gemini team made their way down the corridor the tunnel fed into, following the troupe of Tribal's that had come to their rescue. Vela walked in front of Juno and Lupus, arms wrapped around herself, staring sullenly ahead, eyes blank and dull.

Juno knew it was only a phase. Soon, his sister's melancholy would be replaced by a burning fire of anger and vengeance. If there was one thing he knew, it was that his sister loved her guns. She wouldn't let this die. Not easily, at least.

"We're back," the male Tribal in front announced. The corridor opened up to an underground cavern. Groups of Tribals sat inside, huddled together, whispering incessantly. Juno could make out their names being passed along between the Tribals, and could see a few Tribals that recognized them. Some faces were familiar to him, too, and he realized that some of the Tribals here were ones that the team had rescued a year ago.

A lone Tribal stepped forward, a Drone head worn on his own as a headdress, and another affixed to his staff. "My friends… it has been too long."

Vela broke from her silence when she recognized the voice. "Jeff? Jeff!" Vela kneeled down and gave the furry bear a hug, one which he gladly returned. "Are you okay? What are the Drones doing here? Are all your people okay? Where can I find their base? They blew up my guns…" she paused, then looked back at Juno. "They blew up my guns, Juno! I told you! I told you, but nooooooo… you owe me. You owe me big."

Juno smiled briefly. There it was… his sister was back to normal.

"Not so many questions at once!" Jeff stepped back. "I'll explain from the beginning, follow me."

Jeff receded further into the caver, and the team followed him. The Tribals that had been escorting them returned to their families and friends.

"They came about two months ago, out of the blue, attacking villages left and right. As far as we know, no one has been killed, but everyone who's been captured has been taken to do forced labor in the Goldwood Mine."

"Where's Barry?" Juno jumped straight to the point. Jeff's brother was the cause of all this trouble last time, there was no reason to believe he wasn't behind this incident as well.

"I'm right here," a voice came from further down the tunnel. Near a makeshift hut surrounded by torches, Barry the Tribal sat at a workbench, engrossed with whatever was in front of him. Vela spared no time grabbing him by the collar and slamming him against a wall.

"Vela!" Jeff objected.

"What are you up to?" Vela shouted, Barry's face nose to nose with her own.

"If I did this, do you really think I'd be _here_ right now?" Barry answered calmly and cooly. His placidness ticked Vela off even more, and she raised a fist.

"Vela!" Juno's voice sounded. "Put him down. We don't have anything on him. Yet."

His sister scowled, the let go of Barry, letting him drop to the ground. Barry sat up, brushing the dirt off of himself and returning to his workbench.

"Think what you want," Barry spoke. "But I had nothing to do with this. In fact, I've been sending distress signals to Earth for the past two months. Apparently, the Jet Force Corps can't find the time to pay Tribals a visit every now and then."

"We didn't get any distress signals," Juno pointed out.

"Jammer," Barry answered.

"UMHQ has been getting regular status updates from the Tribals all year!" Vela responded, confused.

"Did you see them yourself?" Barry questioned.

Lupus lowered his head to the ground and whined.

"I'll take that as a no, then," Barry stood up from his workbench and walked over to the team. "You said you lost your weapons, right? Here. These are traditional Tribal weapons, but I've modified them for your use, and even added a few features. I believe you've seen Juno's at work already."

Barry handed each member of the Gemini team a different weapon. Juno received a sword, about the length of his arm, curved like a katana, with etchings along the handle.

"This is a blade, obviously." Barry explained. "The etchings were there to begin with. Not to my tastes, but I guess it's for aesthetic quality. Pull on the pommel."

He hesitated, then pulled on the end of the sword. The blade's edge began to glow orange, and heat radiated from it. A low hum could be heard emanating from it.

"Don't touch that," Barry warned. "It'll cut through your fingers like a hot knife through air."

"Butter," Juno corrected.

"No, air. It's _that_ sharp," Barry continued. "The internal mechanics heat the blade to extreme temperatures, and vibrate the edge of the blade."

Barry stepped over to Vela. "Promise not to use this on me?" he asked, presenting her with a bow and quiver of arrows.

Vela just stared back, every pore of her being seething hatred.

"Right, well… this bow has a lock-on feature. Lock-on to a heat signature, and every arrow will be drawn to that target, until you cancel or switch targets."

Vela continued to stare, dissatisfied.

"Oh, and the arrow heads are packed with explosives, activated remotely by the bow."

Vela's face suddenly lit up, and she grabbed the weapon from Barry. "Well, I guess arrows aren't all that bad…"

Next, Barry fitted two circlets to Lupus' two front legs. "These are claws, made from some off the toughest metal in our galaxy. They should be able slice through just about anything that's alive. You can extend and retract them as you wish, and if you clench your paw, your can shoot the claws a fair distance as well. You'll have to retrieve them once you shoot, though, so be careful."

Lupus barked in thanks.

"We'd begun to give up hope for any help from the outside," Jeff rejoined the conversation. "so we started taking matters into our own hands. Earlier today, we raided a poorly defended Drone outpost, where we got the materials for your weapons. We have to be extremely cautious, though. Our melee weapons don't do much against guns, you know."

"You don't have any guns of your own?" Juno inquired.

"We have the molds," Barry spoke up. "Or, rather, _I _have the molds. Unfortunately, the metals required to make decent guns comes from our mine, which is unfortunately where all the captured Tribals are being held and guarded."

"How did you know we were coming if the radar was jammed?" Vela asked. "It must have taken time to build that tunnel to our ship. It was like you knew we were coming."

"That outpost we raided earlier had a message stored in one of their computers," Jeff explained. "It was intercepted, technically, even though the message was sent directly here. That was something else I needed to talk to you about…"

"What?" Juno asked, curious as to how the Drones had discovered their location.

"The message simply stated that Jet Force Gemini would arrive at Goldwood, today, and that they must be destroyed at all costs."

"Who knew, though?" Vela was confused. "We didn't run into any Drone ships on the way here!"

"The message wasn't from other Drones," Barry stated. "It was from Earth."


	9. The Enemy Of My Enemy

(Recommended listening: Arising Instrumental by Position Music)

"What do you mean, it came from Earth?" Vela demanded an explanation.

"I'm afraid you know more than we do," Jeff lifted his hands. "I'd hate to shine a bad light on anyone you know, but I can't see any other explanation. Someone who knew about your trip sent that message here."

The team exchanged glances. No one wanted to point fingers. The thought that someone they knew had sent out a kill order on them… was unthinkable.

"That's not everything," Barry piped. "I need you guys to do a favor for me."

"And why would we do that?" Vela hissed.

"Because I can make guns, Vela. That's why," Barry stated, his tone steeped in attitude. "You agree to help, and I'll make whatever you want."

Juno thought it over. They definitely needed weapons, ASAP. Even if he was their former enemy, no evidence had been brought forth yet that implicated Barry. Doing him a favor would be more of a help than a hindrance to the team, at this point.

"What kind of favor," Juno asked.

"There are several, actually," Barry added.

"Of course there are," Vela drawled sarcastically.

"I need you to destroy the jammer. We're in the blind here without proper communication, and that includes you, too. I also need the materials to make your guns. If you can save the Tribals in the mine, they should be able to help you find what you need. I have a list."

"That's all stuff we were going to do anyway," Juno pointed out.

"And I need you to go to Cerulean,"

"That's pretty random," Vela interjected. "What's on Cerulean?"

Barry fidgeted. "I… don't know. Mizar had something there, but I can't-"

"You mean, _you_ had something there, right?" Vela accused.

"Barry says he doesn't remember much from his time as Mizar, and I believe him," Jeff stepped in. "If you can't trust him, trust me. I've been using my magic to help Barry recover some of his lost memories with meditation. According to what we've been able to retrieve so far, Mizar was conducting some king of experiment on Cerulean, long before he was defeated. Barry and I would like you to check it out."

"I don't like it," Vela whispered to Juno. "This is definitely a trap, and I don't trust him to make our weapons."

"Why don't you go, then?" Juno suggested.

"What?"

"You said yourself that you don't trust Barry, which means you'll have your eyes open for anything suspicious, like a trap. You're eager to prove him wrong, right? If it is a trap, you'll have your proof," Juno thought back. "And if I recall correctly, you had the most field time on Cerulean. You know the lay better than me or Lupus."

Vela opened her mouth to protest, but realized quickly that Juno was right. If there was a possibility of a threat left over by Mizar, they needed to check it out.

"Fine," Vela conceded. "But we're going to need a ship to get there."

"Riiiight…" Juno had completely forgotten that they were shipless.

"There's been a Drone ship stopping by the planet every day," Jeff offered. "It seems to have warp capabilities as well. We're guessing they use it to transport out whatever materials the Tribals mine."

"When is it set to arrive?"

"Tonight," Barry confirmed.

"How soon can you have weapons ready for us?"

"How fast do you need them?"

"Fast."

"I developed a new liquid nitrogen cooling system that lets me forge a gun in just under thirty minutes. The success rate is pretty low, but I guess that's what you get for rushing things."

"How low is the success rate?" Vela inquired.

"Thirty percent," Barry answered.

"It's not pretty, but we'll have to take it," Juno sighed. "Even one gun would be a big help in taking over a ship. Plus, Drones check their guard status on the hour, every hour. If we want to do this without alerting the ship, we'll need those weapons within that time frame."

"Fifteen minutes to eliminate the guards, knock out the jammer, save the Tribals, and grab the material for the guns with sticks and stones for weapons, fifteen minutes to get everyone back here safely, then another painstaking thirty minutes waiting for guns that may not even work, to take over an enemy ship loaded with armed Drones, all without raising any kind of alarm." Vela summarized.

"Too much for you?" Barry challenged.

"Are you kidding?" Vela accepted. "Who the hell do you think we are?"


	10. When a Plan Comes Together

(Recommended listening: Breach by Hans Zimmer, from COD MW2 OST)

Jet Force Gemini eased silently through the underbrush of Goldwood's forest. Following closely behind were Amos, Fala, and Nae, the three Tribals who'd saved them from the Drones earlier. As a group, they approached the Goldwood mine under the cover of darkness.

The Drone ship would be here soon. Vela, Juno, and Nae crept forward to the edge of the clearing. In the distance, the entrance to the mine was guarded by three drones: two on the ground, and one sniper, keeping a lookout from the trees.

"He's mine," Nae whispered, drawing her bow. She centered the sight on the sniper, and was about to release the arrow when Juno placed his hand on her bow.

"No," Juno said while looking at his watch. "They haven't checked in yet. If we attack now, this goes from a one hour operation to a two minute operation, and we're not _that_ good. Plus, if you shoot him normally, he'll fall right off that branch and onto the ground in front of the guards. Not good."

"So what do we do?" Nae asked, intrigued.

"We… let Vela shoot."

Vela knocked an arrow, and drew back, sight aiming slightly above the sniper. She waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, the sniper pulled out his radio, making a report to the main Drone camp. As soon as he pulled the radio away from his mouth, Vela let the arrow fly.

The arrow pierced straight through the Drone's head, killing him instantly. The force of the arrow carried him backwards, pinning him to the tree he was hiding in. The guards below hadn't noticed a thing.

"Whoa," Nae was stunned.

"Your turn." Vela whispered to Nae, before putting down her bow.

"What are you talking about?" Nae muttered. "There are two them left, I need you to shoot, too."

"No, you don't," Vela moved behind her and talked into her ear. "I saw you pull that bow… you know what you're doing. Take aim, mind the wind, and pick your moment."

Nae breathed deep, drawing back on her bow and aiming for the pacing guards. Back, forth… back, forth… and then… Nae breathed out, letting the arrow fly. The shaft whistled through the air, and found it's mark in the closest Drone. The arrow slipped straight through the head of the first, piercing the throat of the second. The first Drone dropped like a rock, while the second clutched at his throat for a few seconds before sinking to his knees, then the ground. Bringing her bow down, Nae stared in amazement.

"Good shooting, eh?" Juno commented. "Hope you learned something. Let's move."

In groups of two, the team crossed the clearing, sprinting and covering each other's backs. Vela and Nae, Amos and Lupus, then Juno and Fala. Within a minute, they were safely at the entrance to the mine. Nae retrieved her arrow from the fallen Drone, while Amos and Juno hid the bodies. Vela on the other hand, stared at her own arrow, powerless to retrieve it.

"Oh, well… let's get this started. Ten minutes to pullout."

The team assembled on both sides of the entrance, three on each side. Juno and Amos took point, sweeping left and right. The area was clear, and they advanced further into the mine. The light from the stars outside faded quickly, giving way to torchlight. Several silhouettes appeared in the tunnel ahead, and Juno motioned for the others to stay put while he and Amos ducked through an adjacent tunnel. Amos counted the Drones in the tunnel as they headed towards the entrance. Five. He relayed the information to Juno, who in turn receded further down the second tunnel.

At the junction of the two tunnels, deeper inside, two more Drones hung back, watching the others down the first tunnel. Amos made to take them out, but Juno stopped him. Instead, he picked up a small rock on the ground and threw it at a wall just behind the sentries. The noise made them turn around, and a third guard appeared from further in.

_Remember… there's always another Drone. _Juno gave a knowing glance to Amos, and was acknowledged by a quick nod.

_Three in one, five in the other, eight Drones altogether… _Juno waited, knowing that once the guards found nothing, they would resume their posts. After a quick conversation with the first two Drones, the third turned to retreat down the tunnel.

Juno motioned to Amos, and they silently snuck up behind the Drones, drawing their swords. Amos' sword, a normal Tribal sword this time, went for the neck, beheading the Drone all at once, preventing it from making a noise. Juno's sword pierced through the back of the neck, cutting vocal chords and ending the Drone silently. For the third, still returning to his post, Juno offered to Amos, who crept up behind him and stabbed his throat, much like Juno had done.

_Better… quick, no blood spray, and no rolling heads to worry about. _Amos looked back to Juno and nodded. He preferred it this way. _Good. Now for the others._

Juno let out a high whistle, grabbing the attention of all five of the Drones in the first tunnel. All five turned at once. It would be the last thing they ever did. Two arrows zipped into the backs of the two Drones furthest from the boys. The next two, closer together, were taken down by Lupus and his claws. The last was ended by Fala, who jumped on the Drone's back and drove two short knives into it's skull.

Everyone took a moment, sharing a collective deep breath. No one was hurt, and all targets were down. Silent and stealthy, but fast and precise. Vela, bringing up the rear, nodded to Nae, who passed the nod up the line to Juno.

_All right… each group knows their assignments. Get it done, _Juno signaled the others by hand. Juno, Nae, Lupus, and Amos proceeded deeper into the mine, to find the Tribals and supplies for their guns. Vela and Fala returned to the entrance, to take out the jammer at the Drone encampment.

* * *

The local mine wasn't that large. The materials group only had to follow the main tunnel for another fifty feet or so before they ran into a group of Tribals mining an ore deposit. Two members lined each side of the tunnel as they crept closer, looking for any sign of danger near the Tribals.

Nae was the first to notice a Drone Sniper, positioned on a ledge twenty feet above the ground. Below the Sniper were two Drones that she could see clearly. She motioned for the others to stay back as she knocked an arrow and drew her bow. Amos quickly moved forward and lowered her bow, pointing to a rocky outline they couldn't see past.

_There's always another Drone,_ Juno mused to himself. _These young ones are learning fast. _He rested on his haunches and gazed back down where they came from. _Ahhh… we could really use a distraction right now, but… this is our problem now._

* * *

At the main entrance, Vela and Fala were stuck. A small patrol of two Drones had passed by the front entrance to the mine, and noticed the normal guards weren't there. They'd started investigating, but hadn't made a call as of yet. It was only a matter of time before they found the blood on the ground.

It was a dilemma… if Vela shot one with an arrow, the other would sound the alarm before she could draw another arrow, and Fala was only useful as long as she couldn't be seen.

_My bow is useless here… wait. My bow?_ Vela had an idea. "Fala, I need you to get their attention. Draw them towards the entrance."

"What? But they'll sound the alarm!" she argued.

"Only if they see me," Vela explained. "To them, you're just another Tribal, no different than the ones working here in the mine. Trust me."

After few seconds wait, Fala agreed. "Don't get me killed," she tossed back as she approached the Drones. She played the lost and confuse role, stumbling around and looking left and right as she neared the patrol. Within a minute, the two guards noticed her and called out in their crude accent.

"Hey! You! What are you doing there?"

Fala put on a frightful look, then turned and bolted straight back to the entrance of the mine. Vela timed he moment carefully as the Drones approached. Thirty feet… twenty… ten…

Vela activated the trigger on the side of her bow, detonating the arrow still pinning the Sniper Drone to his tree. The blast shattered the base of the thick branch the Sniper had used as footing, sending it down to land directly on the heads of the two Drones. Fala quickly one-eightied and finished the job with her knives.

_Perfect… now let's see about that Jammer._

* * *

The explosion from Vela's arrow head reverberated into the mine, alerting the Drones in front of Juno's group. He quickly motioned for Nae to hide, and guided Amos and Lupus a few feet back to a crevice in the wall. Seconds later, footsteps could be heard running through the tunnel.

As soon as they passed the crevice, Juno and the others crept out and ambushed the group of Drones from the back; three Drones, one for each. As soon as they were down, Nae pulled out from behind an outcropping, taking down the Sniper with one well placed arrow.

The four companions continued into the final room, just past the Sniper's ledge, where the group of Tribals they'd seen earlier were busy mining. The ceiling was low, and the circular room was large, with more sparse groups of miners here and there. There were no Drones in sight.

"Hey!" Juno called out to the Tribals. "Over here!" The Tribals nearly jumped in surprise, but their demeanor gradually changed from petrified to overjoyed as they recognized their rescuers. As the Tribals scrambled towards them, Juno took charge.

"I need one volunteer to help me collect materials to make guns," Juno announced. No one raised their hands immediately, so he continued. "If we can get guns, we can make sure the Drones never hurt you again. Everyone else will be escorted to the rest of the colony. Please, I need _one_ volunteer."

An older Tribal stepped forward, hefting his pickaxe over his shoulder. "Name's Ralph. I'll get you what you need."

"Good, 'cause we've got a list," Juno responded. "Everyone else, follow Amos and Nae!"


	11. Jamming

(Recommended listening: Breaking the Code, from the "Wanted" Original Soundtrack by Danny Elfman)

* * *

Vela and Fala approached the Drone's main encampment. Enemies were littered left and right, and the two made sure to stay out of any illuminating light. A large skeletal metal structure, the jammer according to Barry, was erected near the northern corner of the camp. The Drones patrolled the premises professionally, making sure to check all areas of importance, without error.

_These Drones aren't like the ones from a year ago… these Drones are trained. _Vela found her attention drawn to a unique marking on the Drones' right arms. It looked like a red Drone handprint, as if they'd dipped their left hand in paint, and marked their right by grabbing it. _I probably didn't notice it before because of the poor lighting… what does it mean?_

"We need to do this now," Fala whispered to Vela as she checked her watch. They had three minutes to destroy the jammer and start the trip back to the caves.

"This isn't going to work," Vela shook her head. "They're too good. If we destroy the jammer, they'll notice before we have a chance to decently arm ourselves. Stealth is the priority in this mission, so we'll have to destroy it remotely."

"What did you have in mind?"

Vela reached into her boot and pulled out a play-dough like substance, and rolled it around in her left hand. With her right, she pulled an arrow from her quiver. She then mashed the two together and held it up proudly.

"C4," Vela responded. "I always keep a little on me… just in case." With a quick aim and shot, the C4 and arrow embedded themselves underneath the main dish at the top of the Jammer tower. She made a silent prayer for the arrow to be able to support the weight of the C4, then guided Fala away from the camp.

* * *

At the mine, Juno and Lupus hurriedly collected the ore required for their weapons. Ralph was an obvious miner by trade. He took Barry's list, and within seconds had identified all the material they'd need. At thirty seconds to spare, by Juno's watch, he, Lupus and Ralph were on their way out of the caves.

The other Tribals had gone ahead of them, led by Amos and Nae to the Tribal's underground network. With their safe return, it would take a load off the team's minds. They wouldn't have to worry about what they were shooting, since everything that moved was now hostile.

Upon exiting the main entrance, Juno noticed what must have been Vela's distraction: two Drone guards crushed by a rather large tree branch. _Always the subtle one, isn't she?_ They didn't have time to stop and hide the bodies. They needed to move now if they wanted to stay on schedule.

"I'm guessing you have a plan," Ralph spoke as he struggled to keep up with the Geminis.

"Destroy the Jammer, make a few guns, then let them do all the talking," Juno summarized. His mind was multi-tasking; he'd responded about their plan automatically, but his thoughts were on Barry. "Ralph, do you think Barry has anything to do with this?"

"Barry is the scum under every Tribal's foot," Ralph responded without missing a beat. "No one ever lets him forget it, either. He betrayed us, and anyone who decides to trust that sniveling worm is a damn fool." Ralph stopped talking for a moment to catch his breath and keep pace. "That said… no, I don't think he does. Jeff's given him a second chance, and I trust his judgement. And Barry's changed since before he went missing, too. Still sarcastic… but I can tell he still shoulders his guilt. He'll just never admit it."

"Not even a little involved?" Juno repeated to be sure.

"I'll admit… Barry can do things with technology that would make your head spin. If he was careful enough, he _could_ pull something like this off. But then again, so could you guys."

"Point taken."

* * *

At the underground's entrance, Vela and Fala arrived a few seconds prior to Lupus, Juno and Ralph.

"Got the goods?" Vela inquired. Noticing Ralph, she gave him a quick nod of acknowledgement, which he returned promptly.

"The goods have been got." Juno replied. "How were things on your end?" He knew the answer before he'd even asked. Their radios were still out of commission, so something must have come up.

"Security was too tight," Fala explained. "We'll blow it later, when we're ready to strike."

"Guess it's better than nothing," Juno resigned. "Let's get this stuff to Barry, quick. I'll feel a lot better with a gun in my hand." Lupus barked in agreement.


	12. The Blacksmith

(Recommended listening: "Putting a Jihad On You" from the "Team America" Movie Soundtrack)

* * *

"We have enough material here for ten guns for each of you," Barry announced when the Gemini team unpacked the ore from the mine.

"Ten?" Juno did a double take. "Do we even have ten that we can name off?" Vela started counting on her fingers while Lupus scratched his neck with his hind leg.

"Don't worry, you won't get that many back," Barry reminded them. "Thirty percent chance of success. Go ahead and tell me what weapons you want and I'll get started on them."

"Nine Tri-Rocket Launchers," Vela demanded without a moment's hesitation. "And one standard Jet Force Pistol."

Lupus and Juno stared at Vela, eyes wide.

"What?" she shrugged. "Are you really that surprised?"

Barry's eyes were wide with excitement and interest. It was the liveliest look the Gemini team had seen on the face of the former dictator since recovering him from Mizar's Head. His fingers flew, beating metal with metal, pouring molten alloys, and burying the molds in a tank of liquid nitrogen. His facial expression was almost maniacal, and drew a sharp contrast to Barry's normal sullen look.

"Won't the smoke from the forge attract attention?" Vela asked, attempting to distract herself.

"It's still dark out," Barry wrote off her concern. "There's no moonlight, and the Drones aren't observant enough to see the blotted out stars."

"Right," Vela trailed off.

* * *

Juno and Jeff sat off to the side, opposite each other. Even in the dim light, Juno could see the Tribal's age beginning to show. He moved slower than he had a year ago, and his weight was more heavily supported by his staff than before.

"Jeff," Juno struck up. "I've asked others, and I know where you stand on this, but…"

"Why do I trust Barry?" Jeff read Juno's mind.

"Well… yeah. Why?"

Jeff leaned back against a rock and sighed deeply before tilting his head to look at Barry as he worked the metal in his hands. The light from the forge glanced off of his large eyes, and Juno could feel the weight of his wisdom in his answer.

"I just know," Jeff shifted his eyes onto Juno. "You may not think that's a good answer, but think about it. What if the entire Human race was enslaved and hunted down, and upon cornering the leader of the invaders, you found out that Vela was the one pulling the strings. If she apologized for what she did, would you know the difference between a sincere apology and a lie?"

"If Vela was that far gone, I wouldn't trust myself to know either way," Juno spoke after a moment. "If I didn't notice the signs of her becoming that dark, how could I think of noticing anything else?"

"You'd notice the signs…" Jeff responded immediately. Jeff's face took on a reflective look. "I noticed. I noticed it from the beginning."

"So what happened?"

"I ignored it. Convinced myself that it was my imagination; that my mind was playing tricks on me. In the back of my head, though, I knew. The words he said, the way he acted… and I didn't do anything to stop it."

"Barry made that decision himself," Juno argued.

"I know that," Jeff nodded. "And more importantly, he knows that too. But that will never stop me from wondering if things would have turned out differently if I had put my foot down."

Juno could understand where he was coming from. The thought of his own flesh and blood doing something so heinous was unfathomable. So much so, that Juno could practically see himself flat out denying the possibility of it ever happening. That kind of thinking is what led Jeff to deny his brother's involvement in the Drone Army's first attack.

"Juno, do me a favor," Jeff asked. Juno sat up to listen. "Don't ignore your sister. What she says may have more meaning than you think."

* * *

"This is a bunch of bull!" Vela could hardly believe her eyes. In front of her were nine broken, charred clumps of metal… clumps that were supposed to be Tri-Rocket Launchers. Next to the clumps, a perfectly molded Jet Force Pistol gleamed in the forge's light.

"Sorry," Barry apologized. "That's just the way it turned out. At least you have a pistol, right?"

"Yeah, now I don't have to get my hands dirty to kill you."

"Vela, cut it out," Juno reached into his pile of weapons and handed Vela a Tri-Rocket Launcher. "Here. A replacement, just like I promised, right?" Juno had fared far better than his twin, gaining a Machine Gun, Tri-Rocket Launcher, Sniper Rifle, and Plasma Shotgun.

Lupus' pile was equally rewarding, yielding a Homing Missile Launcher, Flamethrower, and two Jet Force Pistols. All together, they had nine weapons: the exact amount that Barry said they would get.

"Hey, Lupus," Juno bartered. "I'll trade you a Plasma Shotgun for one of your Pistols."

Lupus wasted no time tossing one of his pistols to Juno, who swiped it out of the air and expertly holstered it before tossing back the Shotgun. Obviously feeling guilty about Vela's poor crop, Lupus passed her his Homing Missile Launcher to go with Juno's Tri-Rocket Launcher.

"I don't need your sympathy," Vela spit. After thinking better of it, she changed her attitude. "But I'll take it… thanks, Lupus. You too, Juno."

"Touching," Barry interjected with excessive sarcasm. "Really, my heart is crying out loud right now. But if I remember correctly, we still have work to do, and about three minutes to do it. Are you all ready?"

"Yeah," Juno wrapped his new Rifle around his back. "Let's do this."


	13. RAID?

(Recommended listening: "Bad Boys [Main Title]" from the Bad Boys Movie Soundtrack by Mark Mancina. It's a hard soundtrack to find, as only 3000 CD copies were ever made. Youtube may have it)

* * *

It was late, and he was tired. A lone Drone Soldier walked his post in the center of the Drone encampment. The hour was almost up… pretty soon, central would start checking in with each of the roving guards. Once that happened, his watch would be over, and he could finally get some sleep.

His path carried him past the Assault Ship that had landed in the encampment only half an hour ago. It wasn't a large ship, meant for a small crew and their cargo. The Tribals had already been loaded onto the ship, and now the crew was waiting to be relieved before taking off, much like the guard himself.

Now underneath the radio jammer, the guard took a moment to inspect the main console. He ensured it was still running, with no errors, blah blah blah… the inspections were tedious, and in his opinion, unneeded. Nothing ever broke, and the Tribals weren't brave enough to try anything with dozens of armed soldiers around.

The Gemini's had been taken out, thanks to that helpful transmission, so they had nothing to worry about. Grant it, it was kind of odd to get a message warning of the Jet Force team's arrival, but the Drones weren't the type to look a gift warning in the mouth.

After verifying proper operation of the Jammer, the drone turned to leave when something caught his eye. There was something stuck to the bottom of the Jammer. It was pale, and something shiny glinted from inside it.

The soldier raised his radio to report the odd object when a frantic voice came over the radio. "We've got bodies here! The guards on duty at the mine… they're all dead!"

Central responded to the message, and the Drone listened intently. "Was it the Tribals?"

"No, we can't find any bodies from the enemy. They must've been planning this for weeks, to pull this off without any casualties."

"Or," Central corrected. "They've been planning it for a few hours with the Gemini Team. I've seen firsthand what they're capable of. Attention, all units! Go to full alert status as right now! Ship's crew, your prisoner transport just became hostages! Rover, start distributing the Heavy Weapons!"

"Central, this is Rover," the Drone chose his moment. "I've got an unidentified object stuck to the bottom of the Jammer tower. Can you send someone to investigate?"

"What does it look like?"

"Like a… pale lump," the soldier described.

* * *

From her position in a shrub outside the camp, Vela smiled as she depressed the button on the side of her bow. "Kaboom…"

* * *

Inside the ship, a crew of six Drone Soldiers stood behind six Tribals, each with a gun to the back of the furry white creature in front of them. They were restless and nervous. After Central had issued a full alert, an explosion had sounded from the direction of the Jammer Tower. Small arms fire had started all around the ship, and the crew inside had scrambled to carry out the orders they'd been given.

But now… it was all quiet. Too quiet. The Tribals were just as nervous as they were, fidgeting and whispering amongst themselves. The only entrance to the ship was directly in front of them. Individually, each person steeled themselves for the worst.

_Knock, knock. _An unmistakeable pounding on the front door arrested everyone's attention.

"Whose there?" the Drone in charge answered.

"This is Captain Juno of Jet Force Gemini. Open the doors, surrender your weapons, and we will let you leave this planet unharmed."

"And why would we do that?" The leader retorted. "We clearly have the upper hand. You can't get in, and we have hostages. Now that we know everyone else is probably dead, I think we'll just leave with our quarry. Right boys?" The other Drones nodded in agreement.

"I'm afraid we can't let you do that. Those Tribals don't belong to you, or anyone else. Last chance, are you going to surrender?"

The leader switched back to his rudimentary Drone language, cursing Jet Force and laughing in a low guttural voice. The other Drones joined in, while the Tribals went strangely quiet. After a minute, the Drones had calmed down, but no other sounds could be heard. It appeared that the Gemini team had left.

"Hello?" the leader called out.

All the lights inside the Assault Ship suddenly went out, plunging the group into complete darkness for a few seconds before the emergency lights kicked in. The Drones snapped to a ready position, aiming around with their pistols, looking for intruders. The Drone leader suddenly realized his own foolishness.

"Aim at the front door, idiots! That's the only way into this ship!"

_"Intruder Alert." _The ship's computer came over the intercom system. _"An attempt has been made to hack into the Main Computers. Recommend deploying gas deterrent."_

"If they hack into our systems, they'll control everything!" a rookie Drone freaked.

"No, they won't," the leader calmed them. "The controls for the Front door and life support are on a different subsystem. They can't access those systems from the outside. But, let's surprise them anyways." The leader walked over to the intercom and replied. "Acknowledged, computer. Release the gas!"

"_Voice command authorized, releasing gas into Main Entranceway."_

"Wait, what?" the Drone leader cried. "Abort, computer! _Abort!_"

It was too late, though. Coughing gas poured into the space from the ventilation ducts, covering the ground and rising fast. The Tribals, the closest to the ground, began to cough uncontrollably as the heavy gas replaced the oxygen in their lungs. The Drones began to succumb soon after, caught off guard by the sudden turn of events.

Out of the corner of his eye, the lead Drone saw the rookie running towards the emergency ventilation switch on the aft wall. _That opens all the vents to outside air… wait. _The leader tried to call out to the rookie in vain; the gas had already taken over his lungs.

The next events happened smoothly and precisely, like a well rehearsed ballet. The Rookie Drone slammed his claw on the Emergency Ventilation button, opening the vent slits on the roof of the ship. Vela, who was on top of the ship aiming down through the vents, exhaled and auto locked on the main door controls with her homing missile. She fired, and the rocket soared through the duet to the main entranceway, directly into the door controls. The explosion short circuited the controls, causing the Front door to hiss open.

In the entranceway was Juno. In the space of two seconds, he acquired the location of every Drone and Tribal in the room, and let off six successive Jet Force Pistol shots so fast, they sounded like one continuous fire. Six bodies fell to the floor of the ship, green blood oozing out of gaping holes in each of their foreheads.

Juno holstered his pistol and ran into the smoke filled ship, with Lupus and several Tribals outfitted with gas masks close behind.

* * *

From her vantage point at the vents, Vela watched the scene beneath her unfold. It was always Juno, wan't it? Juno was her brother. Her _twin_. But he was so much better at, well… everything. He could shoot, he could fly, he could make smart tactical decisions. He could do everything that she couldn't.

_Why? Why does it have to be him? Him with all the talent? Him to face Mizar in the final battle? Even Lupus had a shot! Why not me?_

* * *

Author's Note: I like this storyline, and will be continuing it for awhile (much to Shadow's dismay). If you're reading this, please take a moment to write a review. The more I get, the more likely I am to write a new chapter sooner. Any suggestions on plot flow are appreciated as well, though at this point, I've got my path for this story pretty down pat. Thanks, and enjoy!

-Nex


	14. The Signal

(Recommended listening: "Solomon's Theme" from the Battlefield 3 Soundtrack)

* * *

A mere hour after the complete takeover of the invading Drones' Assault Ship, the ship had become the nerve center for the Team's operation. Vela had gone back to the wreckage of their Starship to salvage parts, while Lupus accompanied the civilian Tribals to help rebuild their homes. Juno stood on the bridge of the ship with Jeff, Barry, and Amos.

"We have a problem," Barry started, once they were all gathered. "Or, what _could_ be a problem."

"What do you mean?" Amos asked. All four were standing in front of the main console, where intel and computer messages streamed across the screen. Barry sat at the main controls, his fingers flying across the keyboards.

"We're getting a distress signal. It's a widespread signal, so we're not the only ones getting it, either.

"Is it encoded?" Juno inquired. Barry singled out a message box on the main screen. The text flashed red in jumbled messes of Drone language.

"Yes," Barry responded. "And that also means we know where it came from. The beauty of the Drone encoding system is that each encryption is specific to it's location of origin. This one… is from Sekhmet. I'll run it through the decoder now…"

The text in the message began to change, line by line. Glyphs morphed into letters and numbers as the decoder translated the Drone language into english. But the signal was still jumbled. The message box, now written in blue, was still unintelligible.

"Something's wrong," Jeff furrowed his brows. "The message is still encoded."

"Another Drone encryption?" Amos suggested. "Maybe the Sekhmet just relayed the message."

"No," Juno dismissed. "That's not Drone. That's a Jet Force encryption."

"Why would someone place a double encryption from opposing sides on one message?" Jeff questioned. "No one would be able to read it!"

"Yeah," Juno agreed. "No one but us."

* * *

"Wait," Vela stopped Juno in the middle of his explanation. She'd and Lupus been recalled from their duties early for an emergency strategy meeting. Juno had proceeded to explain the origin of the distress signal. "The message was encrypted in Drone _and_ English?"

"Correct."

"Contemporary or Standard?"

"Contemporary."

"I'm lost," Amos chimed in. "What does contemporary mean?"

Juno answered. "When Vela and I first joined Jet Force, they used the Contemporary encryption. Those encryption codes were good all the way up until the all the other Jet Force units got wiped out. When we got back to Earth, the Contemporary codes were deemed compromised, and were retired from service. We use the Standard encryption codes now."

"So in other words, there's a limited number of people who know those codes," Jeff surmised.

"Not according to UMHQ," Vela corrected. "But we know better. There was never a chance for the Drones to interrogate the other teams. They were all destroyed in one fell swoop."

"Realistically, the only people who know the Contemporary codes are civilians and servicemen who've been in the Jet Force Corps for longer than a year." Juno could feel a migraine coming on. "But no one we know would be on or near Sekhmet. The most important thing about this message isn't who sent it, but the fact that it was meant for us, specifically Gemini and Barry."

"And that means… what exactly?" Barry scratched his head.

Lupus barked and nosed the navigation console. The current coordinates for Sekhmet appeared on the main console along with a projected flight path.

"Going to Sekhmet?" Barry's eyes widened. "What about Cerulean?"

"And the Tribals that are unaccounted for?" Jeff piped up. "This transport ship wasn't carrying materials, it was carrying a labor force. The Drones took the best miners and shipped them somewhere to work."

Barry's fingers re-attached themselves to the keyboard. "According to the ship's log, they made regular stops at Rith Essa. That's got to be where they are."

"We're going after all of them," Juno reassured.

"With one ship?" Amos scoffed skeptically. "It would take weeks to cover each one thoroughly."

"Not with one," Juno shook his head. He, Vela and Lupus exchanged knowing looks and smiles.

"With three."


	15. Trisection

(Recommended listening: 75 Seasons Suite by Tom Hedden from the Autumn Thunder Soundtrack, timestamp 5:00-6:25)

"Am I the only one who thinks this is _really_ crazy?" Amos asked aloud. Five pairs of eyes stared back at him. After a few seconds of silence, he sighed. "I guess so, then."

The Jet Force Gemini Team and the Tribal Trio stood on the bridge of the stolen Drone transport ship. Looming in front of the main screen was an image of the last place the team had ever expected to have to revisit.

"Mizar's Palace? Really?" Amos continued to complain. "We are _literally_ jumping straight into a scorching fire! This is the enemy stronghold!"

"_Former_ enemy stronghold," Vela corrected.

"Because that makes it so much better, right?" Amos shot back sarcastically.

"It'll be a walk in the park," Vela brushed off calmly.

"Yeah, if the park was smack dab in the middle of the pits of hell."

"Relax, Amos," Juno tried to calm him. "We've been here before, we know the layout, and we're armed. Besides, you're the only one not getting off the ship. You should be happy!"

"Ha. Ha. Ha," Amos stretched out. "That's because I'm the only Tribal here that can fly this thing."

* * *

The surface below them flew by as the ship entered the planet's atmosphere. Miles of sand and desert extended in every direction but forward. In front of them, A large complex steadily grew larger and larger. In a few minutes, the ship was soaring over the heart of the small city. That was when the team noticed the first sign of something wrong.

"The Pyramid is gone!" Juno exclaimed.

"Why thank you, Captain Obvious," Vela rolled her eyes. "Anything else you'd like to point out?"

"Actually, I would, Commander Sarcasm," he replied. "There are no life signs. Anywhere."

"None?" Fae's eyes widened. "In the city?"

"On the planet," Juno corrected. "This just keeps getting weirder… I'm gonna set the ship down at the Pyramid's landing site. We'll hop out, take a look around, and if nothing seems wrong… we'll proceed as planned. Everyone good?"

Juno received nods from all parties present. He brought the ship down to coasting speed, and the city swirled beneath them. Soon, the ship had landed in large circular crater in the center of the city plaza. Juno left the ship's power running, just in case.

* * *

Careful to stay behind cover, Juno peered out from the ship's entrance. There didn't appear to be any surprises, and no enemies fired any greeting shots. He, Vela, and Lupus slowly circled the ship, looking outward for any signs of activity. Only a lonely wind answered them. The city was deserted.

"All right," Juno called inside the ship. "The place looks empty. We'll go and get our ships from the Landing Pads. You three stay here and wait for us to come back."

"Roger," Amos acknowledged. Nae and Fae got comfortable, knowing it might be awhile before the trio was done recollecting their ships. Lupus wasted no time bounding off towards the Chasm, just south of the city. Juno and Vela took their time, checking their gear and walking at an even pace.

"Do you really think the Drones left our ships right where they were?" Vela asked aloud. It had been a whole year since they'd arrived, raised hell, and confronted Mizar in his own palace. After the Tribals repaired their ancestor's ship to go after the escaped villain, they'd never had the chance to return and collect them.

"At first I wasn't so sure, since this planet was designated as a refugee planet for the remnants of the Drone Army," Juno explained. "I'd half expected them to be scavenged for parts, provided they could get past the security lockouts. Or that they didn't blow them up out of pure spite. But looking at the place now…"

"There are a million different reasons the Drones could have left this planet," Vela looked around cautiously. "But none of them are good. We already know they didn't just give up and go home." The thought made her ponder for a moment. "Hey, where are the Drones _from_, anyway?"

Juno raised an eyebrow. "Still not reading your mission reports, huh? They're from a boundary system, just at the edge of the Planetary Union. The Intel guys never were never really able to pin down why the Drone Army came here in the first place… but we know better."

Although not officially a member of the Planetary Union, the Drones occupying Tribal Space were slapped with severe sanctions on weapons and transportation. However, Earth, the primary military enforcer of the Union's policy, neglected to exert pressure on the Drones to follow these rules. Since they'd been getting regular, non-distress reports from the Tribals, the Gemini Team figured the Drones had learned their lesson. They had been very, very wrong.

"What do think is going on here? I mean _really_ going on?" Vela asked.

"You sure are talkative today," Juno noticed. "What's up?"

"If I don't ask, you never tell me anything. I want to know what's going on in that head of yours. I know you've been thinking about it. The ride here wasn't that short."

"Someone sold us out," Juno started after a pause. "We've also been getting bogus reports from the Tribals. That means someone we know is either manipulating the Drones, or knows what the Drones are up to and is interested. The Drones are assembling a labor force. We know that because only the skilled Tribal miners were being taken for transport to Rith Essa. And then… there's that SOS…"

"And Barry's 'Revelation'," Vela added.

"And that," Juno logged it away in his mind. "So… right now, I've got nothing."

The pair reached the edge of the Citadel's Plaza, the furthest they could go without splitting up. Juno nodded to Vela, then turned to head toward the Plaza's main entrance. His sister stood still for a few seconds before calling out after him.

"We could go the same way, you know?" Vela stated. "Our ships are on the same pad."

"Why would we do that?" Juno asked quizzically, turning to face her. His sister was acting weird. Never too inquisitive, always a standalone, with a tough girl exterior. This wasn't like her at all.

Vela rolled her eyes and let her shoulders drop with a sigh. Shaking her head, she turned and proceeded towards the entrance to the water treatment center.

"Hey!" he shouted. "I thought you wanted to go together!"

"Not anymore, I don't," Vela replied without turning.

Juno threw up his hands in confusion, then dropped them, giving up. "Ugh… women." He headed for the plaza side entrance to the Temple, trying not to think about it.


	16. There's Something in the Water

(Recommended listening: "Main Theme Sentou 1" from the Freezing OST)

* * *

Vela took off her boots and put one foot in the still water, testing it for temperature. The ripples rand from her toes to the edges of the pool. It was definitely cold, but not too cold. It smelled clean, and she could see straight to the bottom. She put her boots back on, flipping a switch on the side of each. The boots transformed around her feet, clinging to her skin and filling in between her toes.

The Nanotech military issue boots by Adidas were her favorite by far. They could adapt to nearly any situation, including water environments, in an instant. Popular among exercise fanatics, the only downside was their inability to take extreme heat.

A thin skin stretched between her toes and extended outward, webbing for increased maneuverability in water. Vela stepped back into the water, taking several deep breaths as the water crept up around her legs, thighs, stomach, and torso. After another deep breath, she plunged her head under the water, acclimating her body to the surrounding temperature.

She looped around the small pool a few times, stretching her muscles and warming up while taking longer and longer breaths. It was calming for Vela, being able to relax and do something mind consuming. It kept her from thinking about other things. Like her brother.

Vela stopped swimming and treaded water. When the Admiral had given them the go ahead for the mission she'd felt great. It was a chance for her to feel needed again. That chance was overshadowed, though, by her own brother. He was better at everything. Planning, attacking, seeing the small details… compared to him, Vela couldn't help but feel useless, even light years from home. Useless to the military, useless to the Tribals, even useless to her own brother.

"He just… doesn't get it," Vela could feel her blood starting to boil. Taking one last breath, She held it in her lungs and dove beneath the surface, towards the exit to the drains.

* * *

A small beeping noise from the main console drew Amos' attention to the screen. The Life Signs radar, which had been blank only a moment before, now showed a gigantic red blob near Vela's location. Just as soon as it appeared, it and Vela's faded to black as if they were never there.

_Better safe than sorry,_ he thought to himself as he grabbed a hand held radio. "Vela, do you copy?"

Silence answered him, and Amos tried again. "Vela?"

"Amos, what's wrong?" Juno's voice patched in on the radio.

"I just saw something on the Life Signs detector. A huge reading came through for about two seconds near Vela before disappearing again. I thought it was a glitch, but now I can't reach her at all, and her own life sign is gone, too."

For about ten seconds, there was silence on the line. Juno's voice came though, slow and deliberate.

"If the Drains area is shielded from radar, there could be something down there we don't know about. In that case, the only reason you saw anything is because Vela opened the door to the drain system. After it closed behind her, she went dark."

"Juno, Vela has no idea that thing is down there!" Amos' voice started up in panic. "None of your guns work underwater, either!"

"If she realizes something's up, she'll head for the exit closest to the ships. I'll head there. I want Fala and Nae to cover the exit closest to you. Do _not_ go down after her, understood?"

"Got it."

* * *

It was dark and damp inside the drains. Vela turned on her Maglite and swam further into the tunnels. Trying to remember the shortcut to the ships, she turned right at the first fork. More turns presented themselves, and after a few more impetuous path decisions, Vela decided she was lost. She swam to batch of tanks connected to the system and looked up, scouting for a gap of air. She didn't need it yet, but if she couldn't find her way soon, it was best to have a plan.

After finding a suitable tank, Vela lit off a flare and placed near the bottom. Even if the flare went out, she should be able to see the remains, and know where she was. She swam up to the tank's top, taking a quick gulp of air before diving back into the water.

As she left the tank, a quick movement to her left drew her attention. She immediately whipped toward it, only to find the area in front of her empty. There was a turn up ahead on the right…

_No, _Vela shook her head. _I'm probably just imagining things. _Her hair, which was still let down, floated in front of her face, obscuring her vision. She hated pigtails, but her paranoia won out over her fashion sense. _I need to be able to see clearly, even if that means wearing these damn things._

* * *

_It stalked in the shadows, just out of the line of sight of it's prey. It had been a long time since it had had anything but fish. This new creature interested it. It could swim fairly well, but it was nowhere near as fast as it was._

_Curious, it decided to wait, following the little one. The little one was probably lost in the tunnels. If she got close to either exit… it licked it's mandibles with it's tongue. Tonight, it would eat well…_

_The creature began moving again, swimming in the wrong direction, away from the exits. It was easy to track her; the light shining from her gave her away. Slowly, it unfurled it's body, twisting through the water, making sure to keep at least one turn between itself and the little one._

_The light began moving straight down the path, without taking any turns. The path they were on eventually would lead to an adjacent tunnel, which led to an exit. It kept close to the light, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike._

* * *

Vela clung to the roof of the tunnel with her hands. Her Maglite, now detached from her suit, floated forward in the current, held buoyant by her Nanotech boots. Now barefoot, Vela waited to see if her paranoia would pay off.

As her boots rounded a corner, an immense shadow passed beneath her. _Head, torso, torso, torso, torso, torso, torso…_ Vela kept calm and took stock of the insect passing under her. The head and torso pieces were identical in size, but where the head had eyes and mandibles, the torso had five appendages on each side; ten legs. There were more torso pieces, and Vela counted them off. Eleven total, including the head.

_A centipede? Was that thing here the last time I came through? Jeez… _As the last section of the beast passed, Vela made note of a large metal plate covering it's rear. _What the hell is that?_

She pushed off from the ceiling, keeping close to the monster's rear as it followed her decoy. Vela kept her eyes forward, making sure she was staying out of the insect's line of sight. The tunnel up ahead became visible, and Vela recognized it.

_That's the landing pad entrance tunnel! Score!_

Her celebration was cut short by the Centipede, who lunged forward and snatched the light between it's jaws. Confused, the creature continued trying to attack, not realizing that Vela was no longer accompanying it. After it noticed that it had been had, the Centipede continued down the tunnel away from the exit.

_It was waiting for me to reach the exit… bastard._

Vela swam up to her discarded Maglite and removed her boots, careful not to draw the attention of the behemoth moving away from her. She slipped the boots on, then swam towards the exit. The door opened automatically as she drew near, and her radio came to life.

"Vela?" the sound of the radio was garbled by the water. The Centipede whipped it's head around, alerted by the sound. Vela was treading in front of the door, and looked back to see the Centipede twirl it's entire body around, heading straight for her.

_Shit._

Vela swam straight up, curling her legs and resting on the open door's ledge. The Centipede made incredible time, shooting through the water like a rocket.

"Vela, he's right behind you!" Amos' voice blurbed.

_No duh,_ Vela sat, waiting for the right moment. _Thirty feet, fifteen, NOW!_

She kicked off with her legs, launching herself to the opposite side of the door. The Centipede blew past her, the wake of it's path carrying her out of the door. She grabbed a passing leg, hitching a ride as it tore through the water in the shallow pool that served as the entrance to the tunnels. It reared it's head above the waterline, flinging Vela into the air. She landed on her back in the knee-high trough in front of the Temple's entrance.

The Centipede's body began falling back down, intending to slam it's underbody against Vela. She quickly rolled to her right out of the trough, and scrambled onto the smooth roadway that led to the ships. It landed about a foot behind her, and the force of the blow threw Vela forward. She landed on her butt and slid a good ten feet on the well polished crystal before ducking behind a raised ledge for a small pond.

"Vela, can you hear me?" Amos' voice crackled through the radio again, and Vela grabbed the receiver in frustration.

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm a little busy right now, and your nagging isn't helping me stay hidden."

"Vela," Juno's voice came over the mike. "I need a sit rep. What's going on?"

She peeked her head over the barrier. The Centipede, who could hear the conversation taking place behind the pool, let out a shriek before shooting green wads of slime from it's mouth. Vela sprinted cross the open courtyard to the raised pool on the opposite side, taking cover behind it. The spot she'd been crouched a moment before was now a charred pit; the water being held in the pool by the raised ledge poured out freely across the crystal yard.

"There's a giant bug trying to kill me, obviously! Requesting radio silence!" With that, Vela switched her radio off, scurrying further behind cover to hide her position.

The Centipede circled the pool counterclockwise, trying to get a glimpse of his prey as Vela continued to stay out of it's sight by moving with it. Her attention was arrested once again by the metal plate on the monster's rear.

_Why put a metal plate there? That's got to be a weak spot…_

Vela drew her Homing Missile Launcher and clocked the plate as it moved away from her. The image verification system worked quickly, locking onto it's target. As soon as the behemoth rounded a corner, Vela let a shot loose, watching as the missile arched through the air in a complete one-eighty.

The rocket exploded on contact with the plate, mutilating it and sending it flying through the air. A terrible screeching noise came from Vela's right, in the direction of the creature's head. Keeping ahead of the head, she moved closer towards the rear to inspect the damage. Underneath where the plate had been was a hole, about two feet wide. Through it, Vela could see the creature's muscles, tendons, veins, and organs.

_Yup. Weak spot._

* * *

Juno moved with a purpose, through the Atrium that served as the Landing Pad side entrance to the Temple. Gas torches lined the walls, casting dark shadows in the recesses of the hallways. Juno systematically checked each one as he passed, not wanting to run into any surprises later.

_Vela, please be okay…_

He pushed open the main doors to the Atrium, and was blinded momentarily by the sunlight pouring in. He forced his eyes open, adjusting his sight. In front of him was a knee-high trough that Vela had used to enter the Drain system before. Beyond that…

Sighing deeply, Juno moved forward. Green blood and bits of muscle fiber were strewn everywhere across the crystal courtyard. One of the reflection pools was totally out of commission, the water spilling out through a hole in one side. In the other, Vela stood with her battle armor discarded, wiping bits of bug juice out of her hair and off her undergarments.

Seeing her brother approaching, she hopped out of the pool and re-donned her Jet Force gear. A large chunk of meat with mandibles sticking out of it, presumably the head, had a huge gaping hole where the neck should have been, and Juno could smell burning Tri-Rocket fuel.

"Are you all right?" he asked, concerned.

Vela smiled quizzically, as if to say "What do you mean by that?".

"Are you mad at me?"

"Not anymore, I'm not." Vela answered, marching in the direction of her and Juno's ships, just visible from their position beyond the courtyard.

Juno threw up his hands in confusion, then dropped them, giving up. "Ugh… women."


	17. Splitting Up

Back at the Assault Ship, the Gemini team and the Tribals met up again, only this time with four ships instead of just one. Amos sat at the main console, while Juno divided the rest into teams for the upcoming assignments.

"All right, Fala and Lupus, I want you two to investigate Rith Essa. The Drones have been taking Tribals to the mines there. We need to free them, and find out why they're so interested in it. You'll most likely run into some heavy resistance, so be careful and stay hidden wherever you can.

"Vela and Nae, I want you two to investigate Cerulean. According to Barry, there may be some sort of lab near the northern pole where Drone experiments were taking place. If it's still manned, leave and report back. If it's abandoned, I want you to hack their systems and find out whatever info you can on what the Drones did there."

"What about you?" Vela asked.

"I'm heading to Sekhmet. I'll sneak in and try to find out the origin of the S.O.S., and hopefully find out more about the Drones, their current leaders, and what they're ultimately up to."

"Who's _your _backup?" Fala questioned. "Is anyone going with you?"

"No, I'll be going on my own," Juno answered. A pregnant pause followed, until Vela spoke up.

"I'm mad at you again, just so you know,"

"What did I do?" he exclaimed, confused. Someone had to go without a partner… Amos had to watch the ship!

"You're not invincible," Vela explained. "You always take the toughest missions and you never take backup. You may not say it out loud, but you're kind of a jerk when it comes to ego."

"So, are you saying _you_ want to go to Sekhmet?"

"No, I'm saying you should wait until you have someone to go with you."

Juno took a moment to try to see the situation from her point of view. He _did_ typically take the high risk situations, but that was because he didn't want to see his family get hurt.

"I'm afraid we don't have that luxury," he countered. "If someone on Earth really did sell us out, we're on the clock. There's no telling when or where that time will be up, either. I can see where you're coming from, but I'm going to have to disagree with you."

Vela nodded. He was right about that. Time was of the essence.

Lupus barked, then ran in a quick circle around Fala. His impatience was apparent. If they were running out of time, what were they just sitting around for?

"Amos," Juno directed. "Make sure you move this ship somewhere all of us can get to in a relatively short period of time. Our personal ships can't warp very far, so we'll need you on standby to pick us up."

"Got it."


	18. The Laboratory

(Recommended listening: Sushi for Everyone by Brian Tyler from "The Final Destination" Soundtrack)

Vela's blue cruiser dropped out of warp orbiting the planet Cerulean. The ship circled the planet a few times before swooping in for an atmospheric entry. Vela, with Nae sitting shotgun, scanned her screens as they soared over the harsh Cerulean sands.

"This planet seems barren," Nae commented. "Not much to see, besides rolling dunes of sand."

"This area used to be the site of a mining operation by the Mole Brothers," Vela offered. The mention of the Mole Brothers made Nae visibly flinch. "I'm sorry. Touchy subject?"

"I'm fine, please continue," Nae recovered.

"They used to run some small operations out here with a Tribal labor force, but eventually abandoned the site and the Tribals here. The harsh environment proved too damaging to their equipment, and ended up costing more in repairs than the ore was worth."

Curious, the Tribal asked further. "What did they mine here?"

"The only thing worth it's weight in gold."

"… You mean Gemini, right?"

"Exactly," Vela responded. Gemini, the main export of the entire system, was a highly valuable resource. The Tribals made a living by mining it and selling it to the Union, a position that gave them great standing with other races.

Gemini were a special type of ore. More crystal than metal, it stored massive amounts of energy inside itself, and could be used to power machinery, ships, or even power the Jet Force Battle Suits. The gems had been instrumental in providing the Gemini Team with the resources to battle Mizar's army in the past.

"I've got something here…" Vela spoke. "A structure, a few miles ahead. It's almost directly on the pole, just like Barry said."

"He was pretty vague when he talked about it," Nae warned. "We'll have to be careful."

"I'm _so_ tired of having to be careful."

* * *

The "structure" Vela noticed was really nothing more than a gigantic box sitting in the middle of the tundra. Metal all around, it had no windows and only one entrance that they could see. Vela guessed that it was about six levels high, and about four times as long.

Making sure to dress warmly, Vela and Nae left the ship and approached the building on foot. As they walked, the experienced officer took note of the lack of any supporting structures around the building. Usually laboratories had an external power plant, or decon facility, or… something. the entire area around this structure was, for all intents and purposes, flat.

A wide, porous ramp extended up from the snow to the main entranceway, which consisted of a humongous mechanical blast door locked in place by counterweights. A small keypad on the side was covered in snow, and didn't seem to be receiving any power.

"Well, I'd say this place looks pretty abandoned to me," Vela started. "But this trip is gonna end real quick if we can't get inside. The access panel's out, and there's no way we're forcing this sucker open."

"I don't see any windows or ventilation shafts," Nae observed. "I wonder where they got their air from?"

Vela paused, thinking. There was no way in besides this door, but there was no power to it. The real issue was finding a power source.

"We could us the ship to jump start the door," Vela mused. "But I don't like it. This feels too much like a trap. One way in, one way out, no power, no ventilation, abandoned, in the middle of nowhere... I definitely don't like it."

"If we don't do this now, we'll just have to come back later," Nae pointed out. "This was your agreement with Barry for making your weapons, right? You should honor your word."

"I don't have a problem with honoring my word. I have a problem with trusting Barry."

"Then trust your brother. He gave you this mission because he thought you were best suited to carry it out. Or do you want to go back and tell him it was too suspicious?"

Vela could her blood starting to boil again. There was no way she was going to tell Juno a sap story like that!

"I've got some cables in the back. Let's crack this thing open."

Twenty minutes later, Vela successfully routed power from the engines of her Cruiser to the circuits for the door and it's control panel. After a quick data hack, the door slowly began to open. The counter weights on the side of the door lowered, lifting the sizable door slowly. The door hadn't risen more than two feet when Vela suddenly went into full alert.

Standing in the doorway were no less than fifty bright blue drones. Vela whipped out her Tri-Rocket Launcher, taking aim. Several seconds passed, both sides staring the other down before Nae placed her hand on Vela's arm.

"Calm down," she spoke low. "They're not a threat to us." To support her statement, Nae walked up to the nearest Drone and tapped it with her bow. The Drone trembled, then crumpled, it's arms, legs, and head detaching themselves before they hit the ground.

"They're… frozen?" Vela lowered her launcher.

"These are White Drones," Nae took a closer look at the Drones. "They're the typical scientists of the Drone army, not very adept at fighting or shooting. They only look blue-ish because they're frozen."

"You realize that's not a good thing, right? Do you see the stances these drones are in?" Vela circled the group. "They're all reaching for this door, like they're trying to escape. I stand by my previous statement. I don't like this."

"It's freezing in here, too," Nae shivered. "It's colder inside than it is outside."

"Let's make this quick then," Vela strode into the cold coffin, with Nae close behind.

* * *

_Deep in the recesses of the compound, a lone scientist, long dead, stood guard over his charge. The console before him, covered in frost and dust, had long before died with him. Gun in his right hand, data chip in the other, he sat as a monument to those who'd worked here. Lived here. Died here._

_On the upper right hand corner of his panel, a small analog thermometer, not affected by the loss of power, steadily began to rise. Minus fifteen degrees, and counting._

* * *

The main entrance led the pair to a freight elevator in the center of the facility. It soon became apparent that the complex was much, much larger than just six stories. Dozens of floors were sprawled out beneath them, extending far below the surface of the ground. Vela noticed a placard on one of the walls near the elevator.

"We're on level five. This building's actually ten stories tall, with many more floors underground."

"But we came in the main entrance…" Nae spoke to herself.

"We must've come in through the service entrance, for machinery and supplies. The lower floors of the compound must be buried in sand, snow and ice."

Unable to take the elevator for lack of power, Nae and Vela made finding a power source their next objective. Watching for any rusted or decrepit steps, they proceeded down the stairs that bordered the edges of the building. Between the outer corridor with the stairs, and the center with the freight elevator, hundreds of small enclosed laboratory spaces sat undisturbed.

Upon closer inspection of these labs, some sported failed biological experiments, long dead, while others had plants and vegetation that somehow thrived in the dark, below freezing environment.

Remains of Drone scientists and soldiers were everywhere, most frozen solid like the ones at the entrance, while others were missing limbs and seemed to have died from blood loss. On these, long gashes could be seen where whatever had attacked them had done it's work.

Severely creeped out, Nae clung to Vela's arm, feeling a little safer in her presence. Truth be told, Vela was just as disturbed as the small Tribal next to her. Despite this, she struggled to ponder the situation logically, forcing herself to ask questions about the nature of of the wounds and predicament of the Drones before their demise.

* * *

At Deck 1, Nae tugged on Vela's sleeve and pointed to a drawing on the wall. It was written in green blood, probably by the legless Drone scientist laying dead at it's base. Several calculations were written, in a math that Vela didn't recognize. The final result, though, was clearly displayed, as it was circled several times by the Drone scientist.

"Negative Seven," Vela read aloud.

"What's negative seven supposed to mean?"

"I don't know, but I bet it's important. Make sure you remember it."

Next to the writing on the wall, a blueprint of the compound was engraved into the wall. All the floors from the tenth level down to the twenty fifth deck were listed, with a small diagram of the layout for each. Vela pressed a few buttons on her wristwatch, then scanned the diagram with her arm. After a few seconds, a chirping noise could be heard.

"Here, take this." Vela took off and held the small watch to Nae, who took it immediately.

"What's this?"

"It's a mapping device. It'll keep map out the place as we're walking through it, and it shows our locations relative to each other. If you can find a layout, like this one, it'll save the entire map at once. I only have one, so you're borrowing mine. I set it to track me."

"Why are you giving me this?" Nae asked. "Don't you need it?"

"I'm pretty good with directions," Vela explained. "And just in case we get separated, hopefully it'll make you feel a little safer knowing exactly where you are."

The Tribal smiled and strapped it to her arm. "Thank you."

"According to this map, there are some Emergency Gemini Generators down on the twentieth floor, and the main control room is at the dead bottom, on twenty five."

"Did you really have to say 'Dead Bottom'?" Nae sighed.

* * *

Vela and Nae continued their downward descent, checking each and every floor for signs of life or clues to the mystery of the abandoned lab. On each floor, they turned up nothing but more dead bodies, failed experiment rooms, and more grotesque writing on the walls.

"This was a huge operation," Vela commented. "We've seen about two hundred Drones so far, but no sign as to what killed them. What were these guys working on? And where is this thing that massacred them all?"

"It shouldn't matter, right?" Nae piped up. "There isn't anything that could survive for an entire year without eating."

"There are plenty of perfectly preserved frozen bodies around," Vela argued. "If there was something still alive, it wouldn't have to look very hard for food."

"You're not making me feel any better about this, Vela," Nae whimpered.

* * *

After two hours of treading lightly, the pair reached the Generators. Each of the machines had a fuel cache of liquefied and re-hardened Gemini, and both seemed to be in good working condition.

"It doesn't look like these have ever been used," Vela crawled out from under the engine, satisfied that everything was in working order.

"This is high quality, refined Red Gemini," Nae inspected the power source. "This costs a small fortune to melt it down and re-solidify, and it sells for about a hundred times as much. The machinery isn't too shabby either."

"You know how this stuff works?"

Nae fell silent for a moment. "I worked for the Mole Brothers, unwillingly, for a majority of my life. It wasn't until you came through and rescued me that I even knew there was such a thing as 'outside'. When you've been in the mines that long, you tend to pick up a few things."

"I'm sorry we weren't able to get to you sooner," Vela murmured. She'd been the one who'd gotten access to the mine from one of the Mole Brothers, and used an elaborate disguise to recover a vital piece of technology and rescue the Tribals that had been forced into labor there. Vela had been traveling with one of those Tribals this entire time without even realizing it.

"Don't be," Nae laughed. "I'm not. I owe you and your family my life. If any of you ever need anything, all you have to do is ask."

"Well, in that case…" Vela put her hands together. "Could you possibly get these machines to run? I'm not so good with the mechanical stuff. Just the electrical."

"Yeah, sure," the young Tribal accepted. "I'll have them up in no time!"

"Cool. While you do that, I'm going to head down to the Main Control Room. When they're running, give me a call on the radio."

"Wait, you're leaving me here alone?" Nae's countenance fell.

"Don't worry," Vela reassured her. "For all my talk, the likelihood of there actually being something alive down here is slim to none. Whatever it was is probably frozen along with everything else."

"Did you really have to say 'Probably'?"

* * *

Vela descended the last flight of stairs to the twenty fifth floor, skipping over a particularly rusty looking step on the way down. The bottom floor was flat, with no laboratories between the outer wall and the center. The only open direction for Vela to go was to her left, which according to the diagram she'd seen earlier, was the direction of the Control Room. The path led her down a dark hallway, where the light pouring in from thirty stories up didn't even begin to reach.

Popping a flare, Vela continued for another fifty feet before coming to an open area. Holding the flare out at arm's length, she scanned the room. The Main Console was in the center of the room, facing outward from the hall. Sitting in the control seat was a frozen Drone, much like the rest.

Unlike the rest, though, this Drone didn't seem to be panicked, frightened, or trying to get away from some unknown horror. He just sat there, back straight, head forward, a gun in his right hand, and his left hand held up, clenched.

Drawn to the clenched fist, Vela took a closer look. He was holding a Zetabyte Data Chip in his hand, as if trying to advertise to whoever saw him. Trying not to disturb the body, Vela grabbed one end of the chip and tugged firmly. The Drone's body instantly crumbled to ice dust.

_So much for not disturbing the dead._

A distant rumbling caught Vela's ear, and whirring could be heard inside the control console as it started to once again receive power.

"Got it!" Nae's voice came over the radio. "I told you I could do it!"

"Good work," Vela replied into the mike. "You can either stay there or make your way to me, if you're up to it."

"Okay, I'll be there in a few minutes after I finish up here."

"Aye, keep me posted."

Vela took one gloved hand and wiped the frost of the console screens. A layer of ice was over everything, and none of the touch controls worked anymore. Frustrated, she searched until she found a manual keyboard stashed in one of the cabinets. She grunted when she realized all the controls were in the Drone language. She could navigate, but she couldn't understand what she was seeing.

_All right then, let's start with the most suspicious thing..._

The Data Chip slid easily into the docking port of the console, and a file bin popped up on the main screen immediately. Unsure of where to start, she clicked on the first item.


	19. Negative Seven

_This is Rodan, lead scientist here at the Cerulean Science Base. Our purpose? As passed down by Lord Mizar, we will experiment with the thirteen DNA cultures provided to us. These DNA cultures have been siphoned off of Lord Mizar himself, and we will not waste the valuable opportunity._

* * *

"This looks promising…" Vela whispered to herself, inwardly proud of her discovery. This was the Jackpot. On the screen, the lead scientist, Radan, continued to speak.

* * *

_Day 12: The first batch of DNA altered Drones seems promising. Though young, they show exceptional dexterity and strength. Some resemble Drones, while others don't resemble the typical Drone at all. Our dream of an army of super soldiers is slowly becoming a reality, and we will be remembered as the Scientists who carried it out!_

* * *

Nae walked slowly, trying not to make a sound. She shivered in her bundle of clothes, and held Vela's watch close, following the indicator towards her position. It was very dark, and extremely quiet. Nae couldn't help but feel unnerved, even though she knew someone like Vela had gone before her. Taking a deep breath, she descended the stairs towards Deck 25.

* * *

_Day 23:_

_We've hit a brick wall in our experiments. We are attempting to bring life to these samples, but the specimen spliced from the originals are quite… volatile. Several injuries have occurred, and we've had to take more stringent precautions while handling the beasts. In some cases, the subject had to prematurely terminated to preserve the safety of the crew._

_Those that started out with Drone Soldier qualities have all died of severe internal organ failure. Only the malformed, mutated beasts remain. Is this, perhaps, what Lord Mizar intended the whole time?_

_We have managed to keep at least one creature from each culture alive, and their growth is remarkable. Some are even growing too large for their cages already. There are talks of using stasis to halt their advancement while we get a handle on the results of the experiments. If you ask me, I think we're moving this project a little too fast._

* * *

Vela leaned in closer, intrigued. "Mutated Beasts…?" Her eyes flicked towards an image that flashed by in the top left corner, one of the developing experiments. Something about it was… familiar...

* * *

_Day 47:_

_The subjects have finally stabilized to the point where they no longer require daily injections of the cultures in order to stay alive. We are beginning the process of weening them off of the DNA injections. In total, there are 14 experiments left, the extra resulting from a set of twins born from DNA Culture 3._

_Although from a Scientific standpoint, progress has been good… I'm wary. While most of the subjects are docile, and open to outside influence and learning, others are more violent and aggressive. One in particular makes my feelers stand on end, Subject 5._

_Looking back through prior records, it seems this aggressive trait was also present in the failed experiments. In conclusion I believe the DNA culture used to breed the creature to be responsible for the qualities of it's reincarnation._

_Training and induction is set to begin next week. I'm planning strategies to try and minimize injuries to personnel, but with Subject 5… I'll need to be creative._

* * *

As Radan continued with his reports, Vela ran through some more of the pictures. The one that looked familiar, Subject 6, flew in front of the screen, starting from it's "Birth". As the pictures progressed, the beige creature grew larger, grew more appendages, and grew more familiar. Vela inhaled sharply as she realized what this place really was.

* * *

_Day 71:_

_All Subjects have been cleared for transport to their designated assignments. All except Subject 5, of course. Lord Mizar is pleased with the results of our project, and has promised rewards to all those involved. At this point, though, I don't think anyone cares. Personally, I'm just glad this program finished with as few casualties as it did. If I'd known now what I knew when we started this project, I never would have accepted it._

_The project has taken it's toll on other members as well. We all knew we were here to make superior soldiers… but I don't think anyone really understood what that could mean. What we've made here… these abominations should not exist. And I'm not the only one who thinks so, either. I'm actually a member of the majority._

_It's little late to worry about that now. The transport ship for the Subjects arrives this afternoon. Just in time, too. Our weather technician says a pretty strong storm is going to pass over us. We'll be isolated from the rest of the universe for a few days, at least._

_As for Subject 5… I'm deeming him a failed experiment. Lord Mizar may not like it, but there's no way I can, in good conscience, expose this creature to the outside world. It's aggression is unparalleled, and it's strength is legendary. Yesterday, one of the soldiers went a little to far with suppression, and accidentally shot it's leg off. Today, that leg has completely regenerated._

_We've taken to freezing Subject 5 just to transport him within the facility, and sometimes even that is a hassle. The flame he generates inside his own body keeps his core temperature warm, and several times, he's nearly escaped containment. Tonight, we're putting him in cold storage. For good. After we process him for expulsion, I plan on ending him._

* * *

An analog thermometer in the upper right hand corner of the Main Control Console, unnoticed by Vela, rose to negative six degrees, and a small warning light next to it, covered in ice and frost, began to blip.

Vela shivered. Not because she was cold, but because as she listened to the reports, she couldn't help but feel like something incredibly bad was about to happen.

"We need to get out of here… now."

* * *

_Day 72:_

_Disaster struck. Subject 5 managed to escape his confinement after feigning a frozen state. Everyone on it's detail is dead. Now he lurks in the shadows, picking off scientists and soldiers here and there. It's really just a matter of who he decides to grab next._

_The storm is still raging outside. The lower exits are blocked off already, though some try to leave through them anyways. Going outside is suicide in this weather, though I can't say staying here is much better._

_Scelley has been working on a weapon to cool down Subject 5 more rapidly, a Freeze Gun of sorts. He's been poring over Subject 5's data, trying to come up with a solution. Most of the Scientists think it's hopeless, but I'm going to help him any way that I can. If he's successful, we may make it out of this nightmare._

* * *

_In the bowels of the Laboratory, thirteen tubular stasis chambers formed an all encompassing circle. In between them and littered throughout, research materials and documents were spread about, along with hundreds of shipping boxes full of advanced technology and high yield explosive weapons. The stasis chambers sat, vacant, empty of their former occupants… all but one._

_Inside the open pod emblazoned with the number five, an ice statue's heart began to beat. One, two, three, four…_

_Inside the monstrosity's belly, a wisp of a fire began to burn. Small and insignificant at first, it grew rapidly in size, filling it's underside and warming the rest of it's body. Ice began to fall off in chunks as the creature became more and more in control of it's own functions. Slowly, it opened one of it's burning red-orange eyes._

* * *

_Day 73:_

_Scelley is dead. We found his remains a few minutes ago. No one here understands the scribbles he wrote on the wall. No one but me. I've modified the weapon Scelley was working on using his final calculations._

_Negative Seven. That's temperature below which all bodily functions of Subject 5 cease, and the only temperature below which it can be considered safe to approach him. The weapon still has a few kinks. I need to finish it before Subject 5 decides to come after me._

_I don't think it was a coincidence that Scelley was targeted. This thing is smarter than we give it credit for._

* * *

As Nae reached the final flight of stairs down to Deck 25, and started down immediately. Her eyes were glued to the locator watch on her wrist, in an attempt to ignore the pit in her stomach, her instinct screaming at her at the top of it's lungs to run away.

So focused was she on the watch, that she didn't notice an overly rusty and degraded step. As Nae placed her full weight on the step, it gave way, plunging her into the inky darkness below.

* * *

_Day 74:_

_A group of scientists tried the force the freight door open… I killed them…_

_Scelley's weapon works exactly as promised, but I fear I will not have the time to utilize it. Subject 5 must have seen the weapon in action. People are falling dead left and right. He's hunting for it. For me. The element of surprise was our only hope, and now we've lost it._

_I know what Subject 5 is capable of. The fact that he was watching the Freight door as the scientists tried to open it is proof that it is intelligent. It wants to get out. And I know enough from his anatomy to realize that this place cannot hold him. It was never meant to._

_I now put in motion my final plan. I've redirected the heat exchanger coils we ran from the planet's mantle for heating to the water storage tanks outside the facility, and increased their pressure to approximately seven thousand pounds. With this, our heating system has effectively become a cooling system._

_Subject 5, the next batch of experiments on Deck 26, and all the doomed Scientists in this damned facility… none of us will leave this place. To whoever finds this message, know that these "Generals" of Lord Mizar must be eliminated. They are far too powerful. On the disk in my left hand, I am leaving the entirety of my and my team's research. Use it to find their weakness. Use it to redeem our honor._

_May the universe forgive us._

* * *

"Deck 26?" Vela exclaimed. A loud clanging noise followed by a shriek caused her to whip her head around towards the entrance. "Shoot! Nae!"

* * *

"Ouch…" Everything hurt. Slowly, Nae brought herself to a sitting position, checking herself for injuries. She was pretty battered, but not broken anywhere. Looking up and around, she took in her surroundings. The entire floor she was on served as one room, filled with boxes like a warehouse. She could see through the grating of the deck above her, and the hole where she fell through the stairs. In the center of the room, a horizontal square gate on the ceiling provided freight elevator access.

Her eyes lowered to the ground around her, and Nae nearly leapt out of her own skin. Dozens of bodies and assorted body parts were strewn all over the floor, in a much higher concentration than on the other levels. She took deep breaths, calming herself before moving.

She was along one of the walls of the room, and behind her, a large cylinder sat, half open. The placard on the pod had the number five written into it.

The half open door seemed inviting, almost as if beckoning her to look inside. Nae knew it was a bad idea, but before she could argue against her curiosity, she found herself moving towards the capsule. Frost and melting ice littered the immediate outside area of the machine, and a malfunctioning, flickering light shone from inside. She peeked her head inside the pod…

Empty. Nae sighed in relief, realizing that she'd actually had been holding her breath. She chuckled to herself, trying to cheer herself up.

"See?" she spoke aloud. "Nothing there. Nothing to be scared of. I can't believe I let myself…"

_Whoosh…_

The sound of rushing air reached Nae's ears. The sound had come from directly behind her. Her blood turned to ice in her veins, and she turned, not out of courage, but fear. The only sight that greeted her was several stacks of boxes.

"Vela…?" the Tribal called out, hopeful. She ventured into the maze of boxes, looking for a stack high enough to reach the grating above. Something wasn't right here, and she didn't want to hang out and find out what.

One stack of boxes, closer to the center of the room, reached clear up to the grating on the 25th Deck. Nae began climbing up, using other boxes as footholds. She nimbly maneuvered to the top, then pressed up against the bottom of the grating, head up, checking it's strength. A low growling in front of her made her freeze.

Lowering her head slowly, Nae looked down into the face of a super sized black ant. It's six legs were razor sharp, and the tip of it's lower abdomen extended into two sharp points. The center section of it's exoskeleton glowed orange, casting faint light across the floor. It clicked it's pincers together loudly right in front of Nae's face, then opened it's maw and howled, a mane of fire erupting from around it's neck.

The tribal, overcome with fear, took a step back, and lost her footing on the box, sending her crashing, once again, to the floor below. Pain from her fall ignored, Nae scrabbled furiously to back away to somewhere safe. The beast followed her, sticking it's head around a corner, making eye contact. It opened it's mouth and roared loudly, it's mane of burning flames making a second appearance.

The monster roared again, this time sending a blast of flames in Nae's direction. Nae, still crawling, rolled to her right, behind a stack of boxes and out of the Fire Bug's line of sight. The two foot area she'd been in a moment before was burned to a crisp. She bolted across the room, between stacks of paper, trying to maintain her cover. She didn't have anything that could fight that… thing.

Nae stopped for a moment, catching her breath behind a stack of blue boxes. She readied her bow, knowing it wouldn't do much against such an enemy. _I just need to survive until Vela finds me…_

* * *

Directly above her, Subject Five sat with it's claws gripped to the grating, hanging upside down. It lowered it's head down, making no sound as it's jaws drew closer and closer to Nae, completely oblivious to it. Just a little closer...

* * *

"Nae, look out!" Vela shouted. Her call was immediately followed by an explosion, as three rockets slammed into the side of Subject Five, sending it hurtling across the room. Vela appeared next to Nae, grabbing her arm and dragging her towards the center of the room. A small console was sticking up from the ground, a control pad for the freight elevator. Vela didn't hesitate, immediately putting in the call.

Subject Five quickly rose to it's feet, shaking off the blow. The hole in it's side where the rockets hit bubbled, clogged, the repaired itself as it stood. Fear began to overtake Nae, and her knees began to buckle under her own weight. That thing was a monster, without a doubt.

"Snap out of it!" Vela's face appeared in front of the Tribal's vision. "Focus on me, can you do that?"

"Yes," she responded automatically. She could feel her senses returning, and her knees stopped shaking.

"Good, take this," Vela shoved a blue and red firearm into Nae's hand, giving her a chance to firmly grasp it. It fit well in her hand, and she inspected it quickly.

"What is this?"

"It should be able to slow that thing down. I need you to do that while I shoot it with this." Vela held up her Tri-rocket launcher, ejecting the now spent cartridge and adding another. "It'll be another twenty seconds before the Elevator makes it down here. We need to be alive when that happens."

Subject Five was up. Fully regenerated, it started to rampage, forging a straight path through clutter, boxes, and storage containers to reach them. Nae took aim and fired her new gun, holding it steady on the Fire Ant. She pulled the trigger, holding it back while following the Ant's path with the Freeze Gun. The effect was instantaneous. A blue-white light erupted from the end of the gun, consuming Subject Five entirely. Nae continued to hold down the trigger until it's energy was exhausted, and let out little more than a wisp.

Vela stepped up to plate next. She walked towards the frozen bug boldly, blasting away with her Rockets as she approached. Large chunks of frozen sections of Subject Five's body exploded and broke off easily. Within seconds, Subject Five had been reduced to it's middle section, which still glowed with an unnatural light. Vela discarded her empty Tri-Rocket ammo casings and took stock. Five shots left.

"Too easy," Vela laughed to herself as she returned to Nae. The ceiling had opened up, and the Freight Elevator was docking with the 26th Deck. It was a traditional cable elevator, with cable supports at each of the four corners. As they stepped onto the platform, Nae tugged Vela's sleeve.

"I don't think you were wrong about it being 'too easy'," she pointed to Subject Five's remains, which had begun to writhe and shake. Out of the middle section, a rapidly growing head, tail, and six legs began to appear. Subject Five turned it's still forming head towards Vela and Nae and screeched, the fire from his mane slightly less impressive, but still as terrifying.

"Awww, crap. Go, let's go!" Vela ushered Nae onto the elevator and took the controls, directing it to rise as fast as possible. The cage began to rise, too slowly for Vela's liking.

"Vela, he's coming back!" Nae shouted as she looked over the side. The elevator had already made it to the bottom of the 24th floor, but Subject Five had jumped into the freight shaft along with elevator, and was now crawling around the outside edges, trying to find an opening to grab one of the two girls. In boughs of frustration, he blew fire all around, which reached up and around the elevator itself.

"Nae, I need you to stop his fire! That's his most dangerous weapon right now!" Vela directed. "He hasn't fully regenerated yet, so that Freeze Gun is probably a lot more useful!"

The Tribal nodded in understanding. She eased over to one of the elevator's edges, looking over the side. A plume of fire and smoke erupted in front of her face, and Nae leapt backwards, an instinctual move that saved her life.

"He was waiting for me!" Nae informed Vela. "I need a distration!"

The twin looked around frantically for something appropriate. Above them, on the 18th floor, a pallet of Drone weaponry and ammo caught her eye.

"One homemade Vela distraction, coming right up!" she replied. Slamming another ammo cartridge into her Tri-Rocket Launcher, Vela aimed well and chose her moment. "Get ready, Nae!" The Tribal braced herself on the opposite wall as the elevator passed the 18th floor and Vela fired.

The rocket's explosion had an incredible effect, igniting dozens of other bullets and rockets on the pallet. The force of the explosion caused the elevator to lift on Vela's side and sink on Nae's side, causing the Tribal to hang over the edge of the railing. Subject Five moved quickly to dodge the explosion, leaping from one side of the shaft to the other… right underneath Nae and her gun, held at the ready.

"Eat this, bug brain!" Nae squeezed the trigger, loosing a tidal wave of sub-zero energy at the Fire Ant. The frigid blast caught Subject Five in the face, enveloping his mandibles, eyes, and feelers. The elevator quickly righted itself, yanking Nae back into safer territory as Subject Five screamed in pain and discomfort. "Vela, shoot him now!"

Vela expertly jumped over the elevator's rail, hanging on with her left hand and aiming with her right. Subject Five was stationary on the 17th floor, futilely clawing at his own face, desperate to remove the ice.

"You shouldn't eat desert before dinner, freak," She loosed one of her Tri-Rockets, blasting the Ant's head into billions of ice crystals. The rest of the body went limp, hanging in place. Vela knew it wasn't dead, though. It wouldn't be long before that head regenerated, and Subject Five would be right back on their heels. And she only had four shots left.

Nae grabbed Vela's arm and helped her back onto the elevator, now at the 12th floor.

"We need to get to the 5th Level," Vela reminded. "We came in through the freight entrance, so we still have… seventeen more floors to go."

"Do you think we'll make it out before he regenerates?"

"That doesn't matter," Vela shook her head. "This facility wasn't made to contain it. The only reason he hasn't broken out yet is because he hasn't tried. We need to kill this thing before it escapes."

"Any ideas on how to do that?" Nae asked, hopeful.

"No."

"Did you really have to say 'no'?" Nae exclaimed. "Couldn't you have just said 'not yet', or 'I am working on it'?"

_Wham!_ A thudding noise resounded as the northern side of the elevator lifted a good eight feet into the air, then slammed back down. The stress on the cables holding the elevator proved to be too much, and the two cables on the northern side snapped. Vela leaped to the opposite side, grabbing the elevator rail with one hand and clasping Nae's arm in the other.

It became obvious what had happened. Subject Five had regenerated, and had rammed one side of the elevator in an attempt to knock them off. Instead, it had broken the elevator, which now hung vertically, still rising to the top of the shaft.

Vela could see the abomination crawling up the northern side of the shaft. Now it could pull up beside them, attack them with fire without the elevator floor getting in the way. It was going for the kill.

"Nae, shoot his mouth!" Vela ordered. Nae twisted to get a clear shot as the Fire Ant opened it's maw, flames beginning to erupt from it's gullet. Subject Five shot off a ball of flame, headed straight for Vela. Just when she thought the end had come, Nae sprayed down the fireball with her freeze gun, stooping it in mid flight and sending it careening down the elevator shaft. Her next shot iced over the insect's mouth, once again preventing him from using his flame.

_Good, _Vela thought to herself. _Without his fire, he'll be forced to stick to close range attacks with his claws. And as soon as he gets close…_

"All right, great shot!" Vela congratulated Nae. "Quick, climb up onto the rail! I've got a plan!"

Subject Five furiously shook his head in frustration, attempting to dislodge the ice clinging to his face, sending fiery sparks from his mane shooting in all directions. After a few moment's struggle, he gave up, and instead crawled around the shaft, approaching the elevator platform from beneath. Above him, Vela and Nae each took up a position above the two remaining support cables.

_Just a little closer…_

Enormous razor sharp claws tore into the bottom of the vertically hanging platform, the Fire Ant pulling himself towards the seemingly helpless pair. Only seemingly though.

"Now, Vela!" Nae called out. Vela took aim with her Tri-Rockets, destroying the last two supports holding the Elevator Platform in the shaft. The entire cage dropped, with Subject Five still attached, down into the abyss below. The girls held fast to the cables, which sped towards the top of the shaft, their weight now released.

"Let go!" Vela commanded as they reached the fifth level above the main entrance. They floated upwards for a moment, still carried by their momentum, before landing on their feet on the floor in front of them. They were once again standing in the entranceway to the Laboratory, with a host of frozen Drones to greet them. The two sped by the lifeless statues, towards Vela's blue cruiser just outside.

A resounding roar knocked both off their feet, and Vela looked back to see the unthinkable. Somehow, someway, the experiment had made it's way back up to the top of the shaft. It's mane of fire extended more than three times the size of it's own head, a sure sign that this thing was pissed.

"Vela!" Nae panicked. Her sudden fall had caused her to injure her ankle, and try as she might, she could not move more than a foot before collapsing back to the ground. "Vela! Help!"

Vela froze for split second, uncertain as to what to do. The ship loomed just in front of her, and an angry blight of Mizar's Army rampaged behind her. One thing was for sure, though. She wasn't leaving Nae behind.

The moment ended, and Vela found herself sprinting full speed towards Nae's struggling form. The Fire Ant cleared the edge of the shaft, and began galloping toward them as fast as it's legs could carry it. It was now a race. Who would reach the helpless Tribal first?

In a burst of inspiration, Vela slid as she approached Nae, scooping up the discarded Freeze Gun at her side and coming to rest near Nae's feet. Subject Five dove, jaws and claws flashing and waving. Vela brought the Freeze gun to bear, blasting the monster's midsection with sub cooled energy. The Ant froze in place, it's body unable to properly function at the temperatures it was now exposed to.

Vela stood, slamming in her last two Tri Rocket cartridges, and fired. The rockets zoomed towards the two counterweights holding the massive freight door in place above them. The door shook, buckled, then eventually dropped on it's preset path, still guided by the grooves in the sides. Unable to escape, Subject Five could only look on as the door crushed his frozen midsection, spilling a bright, eery orange and yellow fluid across the snow.

Subject Five screamed, the immeasurable pain caused by his mortal wound given voice. Vela and Nae stood by quietly as the flames protruding from the experiment's neck grew smaller and smaller, and the fire in it's eyes faded to black.

* * *

"What the heck was that thing?!" Nae practically screamed. Safe inside Vela's ship, Nae tended to her injured ankle as Vela prepped the ship for takeoff.

"One of Mizar's 'Generals'," Vela explained. "This outpost had one purpose: to breed a wave of Super Soldiers to carry out Mizar's will. Barry's will, I mean."

"One of? How many are there?"

"Thirteen total. If Juno and I had known there were so many more of these things, we would have never taken a desk job back on Earth."

"You've fought them before?" Nae inquired.

"Yes," Vela answered. "Once at the Ichor Base, and another more recently. You remember that thing at Mizar's Palace, right? That was one of them. Juno took out one Tawfret, and Lupus took out a pair of twins on Eschebone. Plus our friend Subject Five, here…"

"That makes six down, and seven more to go," Nae finished. "So, what's our next move?"

"We're going to save Juno," Vela gripped her steering console tightly. "The second most aggressive experiment was sent to Sekhmet."


	20. The Expected Visitor

Recommended Listening: "Hand Call" by Harry Gregson Williams from the recent "Total Recall" Movie Soundtrack.

* * *

A small red ship floated along in the vastness of space, it's power and life support off. Inside, Juno sat with a thermo blanket, his trajectory on a course for the Drone Warship, Sekhmet.

Juno was making a textbook approach to the Sekhmet, one that he and the rest of his team had made when boarding the red battleship one year prior. By using a preset flight and killing power, the cruiser wouldn't show up on Sekhmet's radar. Juno just had to wait until the cruiser was within Sekhmet's shield and radar tech, then power up and make a quick landing.

As long as the battleship didn't make any unusual maneuvers, Juno's current trajectory was set to take him right into the Sekhmet's blind spot. Nearing the ship, he peered out of his cruiser's viewing window. The Sekhmet was coming up from behind him on his port side, moving only slightly faster than him. He felt a slight tingling sensation as the cruiser slipped through the Sekhmet's primary force field, an eerie green light washing over him and the entirety of the cruiser.

"Here we go," Juno breathed out, beginning his cruiser's power up. Engines, navigation, flight controls, lighting… check. He nudged closer to the ship, being conservative to avoid alerting anyone with a high heat signature.

The Sekhmet's upper docking station sat on the forward port side, and Juno drifted over the spine of the ship to reach it. He checked the seals on his battle uniform and verified his oxygen levels, then checked his onboard computer's flight plan.

He wasn't going to set the ship down. Everything they knew about this ship was wrong, including the double encrypted message. It stunk, and Juno didn't want to risk ambush. The ship's computer was set to follow the Sekhmet within it's shield, hovering just aft of the main docking bay at the back of the warship. If need be, he could jump back to his ship from there.

Juno opened the rear hatch on his cruiser, activating the magnetic clamps on his standard issue military boots. Careful to avoid the burn from the engines, he spacewalked to the ship's underside, knelt, de-activated the clamps, then pushed off, soaring the short distance between the bottom of his ship and Sekhmet. He reached the landing pad, slowing himself with one hand while reactivating his clamps with the other. A smooth landing was his result, and Juno looked up to see his cruiser close it's hatch and make it's way to it's predetermined position.

"So far, so good," Juno muttered to no one. That had gone well, but it was no indication of how things were going to turn out. The Captain took a deep breath and cleared his head, making his way to the airlock.

* * *

Juno drew his pistol as he peered down the hallway, first left, then right.

Nothing. The place was dead, almost uncannily so. Scouting the hallway with quick glances, Juno noticed that the cameras in the corridor were all pointed downward, and their power light was inactive. There were no guards, and even the cameras were dead. It just felt… wrong.

As Juno stepped out into the hallway, the lights lining the bottom corners of the corridor took on a life of their own, flashing on and off, giving the illusion that the light was moving down the hall. He tensed, waiting for something to happen, scanning for an enemy. After a few moments of silence, he relaxed.

Juno took a look behind him at the corridor going aft. No light show going on that way…

Someone, or something was guiding him using the lights on the floor, showing him exactly which way it wanted him to go. Juno weighed his options. Whoever it was knew he was there. But since they hadn't attacked him, there was a chance that they didn't mean any harm… even though they lived on the enemy's main instrument of death.

"All right," Juno muttered again, deciding to go along with the light show for now. "I got it. Follow the well-lit road."

* * *

The lighted path continued to lead Juno, guiding him from the back of the ship towards the front. For the most part, the journey was a straight shot, taking one of the main upper corridors from the landing pad.

About halfway forward, Juno was thrown into confusion when the lights around suddenly went out, then returned to their normal stationary state. The sound of movement further down the hall reached Juno's ears, putting him on full alert. He instantly raised his gun, preparing for a skirmish. A hissing sound on his right drew his attention to a door that had opened on it's own. The label screen said "Storage 7A".

With only a moment's hesitation, Juno slid into the storage room, and the door shut and locked behind him. He sat on the floor by the door, keeping a ear out for danger. The sounds from down the hall became louder, and Juno recognized the crude language of the Drones. Their footsteps stopped in front of the Storage room, and Juno could hear beeping on the keypad outside.

One of the Drones cursed and a banging noise could be heard, presumably the Drone banging on the door controls. Further discussion between the two guards ended in dismissal of whatever need they had to enter the room. Apparently no longer caring, the voices of the two Drones carried on down the hall that Juno had come from. A clicking noise could be heard, and the the lock on the door indicated open.

Everything was starting to make sense to Juno. The reason he hadn't seen anyone is because he was being lead _around_ all the guards. The security cameras in his immediate area were down because his contact didn't want him to be seen. The only thing still boggling him was _who_ the contact was. They obviously had access to Sekhmet's security protocols, and they knew Jet Force encryption codes, albeit outdated ones.

As he took stock of the situation, a small container in the back of the storage unit caught his eye. He recognized the Drone word for "explosive", and upon inspection, Juno discovered a perfectly assorted box of remote mines, timed mines, grenades, and cluster bombs. He breathed in sharply, excited. This was a good find. Juno stocked up on as much as he could before stepping back out into the corridor.

The phantom floor lights lit back up, guiding Juno to some unknown location. Juno holstered his pistol, deciding to go with the flow… for now.

* * *

Juno made good time, feeling free to move a little faster since he wasn't running into any interference. The lights continued to guide him, forward, left, right, forward, right… anytime Juno entered a new area, the surveillance went down, and anytime guards unexpectedly came by, the Phantom had a place prepared for him to hide.

After an hour of being led, Juno had to mentally force himself to keep an open mind as far as tactical situation. It was easy to rely on the Phantom, but if something went wrong he didn't want to be caught unprepared. Although, it was nice knowing where to go and when enemies were around. He just had to make sure that information didn't make him complacent.

No sooner had the thought crossed his mind when the lights around him suddenly went out again. Juno ducked behind a frame sticking out from the wall on his left, waiting for direction, but also determining a way out himself. Looking forward and back, Juno didn't see any doors or exits. He silently drew his pistol, preparing for the worst.

Silence.

After a minute of waiting, Juno began to wonder. He hadn't heard any noise from guards, or seen anything suspicious. There didn't seem to be any enemies. The only thing odd was that the light had stopped guiding him. Juno had a decision to make. Trust the Phantom and stay put? Or investigate?

Juno straightened up slightly, aiming his pistol around the frame. The hallway seemed clear, completely devoid of life. A small flickering caught his eye, to his forward right. Another frame stuck out from the wall on the right side, and one of the floor lights in front of it was flashing on and off.

_Is the Phantom showing me where the enemy is?_ Juno thought to himself. He had to admit, whoever this Phantom person was, he was good. Juno focused, keeping a straight line of sight with the frame.

"Step out from behind the frame with your hands up, or you're getting a grenade," Juno called out in an intimidating voice. There was silence for a moment, then shuffling as two pairs of hands rose up from being the frame. Human hands.

"You got me," a familiar male voice answered. "I guess the legend of Jet Force Gemini continues, eh Juno?" From behind the frame, a young man and woman dressed in Jet Force attire stepped into the middle of the hallway. Both uniforms had a slightly reddish tint to them. The male's bright red hair showed from beneath his helmet, and the female's blond hair fell to about shoulder length.

"Aries?"


	21. The Corps

Recommended Listening: ROD OVA Original Soundtrack, Track 9. You can find it on KAF, if interested.

* * *

_Six months earlier…_

It was a sunny day over the United Military Headquarters. The twenty-two people in front of Juno didn't know that, though. They were all underground, in a training complex designed by he and Vela for the specific purpose of training the next generation of Jet Force Officers. The males and females were separated, each standing side by side in a perfectly straight line, at attention.

Juno entered the room from the far left of the group, his boots clacking on the polished tile floor. The room was small, just large enough to hold everyone with a little extra for breathing room.

"Let me be the first to welcome you to the Jet Force Corps," Juno started. He was dressed in full uniform, pistol hanging by his side. Walking down the toe line, he looked each selectee in the eyes. Some were younger, some older, with varying builds and sizes. The one thing was common to all of them was the fire in their eyes. They were ready for this.

"You may stand at ease," Juno spoke as he finished his inspection. There was minor shuffling as the officers relaxed their posture. "You were hand selected for this program. You have the skill sets and the knowledge to make you eligible for a Jet Force team. You are not amateurs… so I will not treat you like it. This isn't basic training.

"The training we put you through here will be difficult. It will require you to think outside the box and will push you to your limits. Every challenge here is possible, every obstacle can be overcome. Any feelings of 'I can't' or 'I won't' will not leave this room. Even if you believe a task is impossible, keep in mind that you are a member of a team. Everything you say, do, and think will directly or indirectly affect the speech, actions, and mental processes of your partner.

"If you were hoping to have the freedom to choose your partner, I'm afraid you are mistaken. You have all been paired based on your physical capabilities and psychology by none other than yours truly. Are there any questions?"

One officer raised his hand. His clean cut red hair made him stand out amongst the candidates, and he had an air of utmost confidence around him.

"First name?" Juno asked.

"Max," The officer replied.

"And your question?"

"When do we start?"

* * *

_Several days later…_

The newbies were beaten, bruised, and tired beyond belief. They were running on minimal sleep, minimal food, and minimal breaks. The rigorous training had come to a sudden halt, and Juno had lead them all into an underground hall housing a shooting range.

Each team was given a booth, at the end of which was a paper target of a typical Drone soldier. Sections of the body were divided into different point categories, ranging from zero to five. Several teams whispered in confusion, looking to Juno.

"Note," Juno informed. "We are not currently engaged in any hostilities with the Drone Army. However, not only are they the first aggressive alien species we have encountered so far, but their home world _and _current refugee planet are both outside of Union jurisdiction, meaning they are not bound by our laws. They will be your most likely enemy, hence the target."

"Sir?" The redhead had raised his hand again. Juno nodded towards him. "I think more of us were wondering why we're not using holo targets. Did the program run out of money or something?"

"No, no," Juno chuckled once, as he stepped up to a booth. "I just prefer old fashioned."

He quickly drew his pistol and fired off six shots in rapid succession, each traveling downrange and leaving smoking holes in the target. Several pairs of eyes followed the lane with their eyes, scouting the bullet riddled poster. Juno brought the target in remotely with the motorized rail and hung it on the back wall. Each of his shots had penetrated the Drone's chest area, a perfect thirty.

"Now on my go," Juno continued. "I want the first group to unholster, shoot six shots, then re-holster, all in two seconds. If you go a little over two seconds, don't worry. We'll work on it. Ladies first, let's go."

Most of the females were clumsy, at best. Two managed to get all their shots off and re-holster within the two seconds, one of which obtained a twenty-eight out of thirty. Scores overall were not bad, but it was fairly obvious which ones were used to handling a gun.

Males were up next. The women passed their pistols over to their counterparts, and the men took their stances. Better results, but still clumsy. Five of the men made the deadline, but the scores were varied. Juno's attention was drawn to Max's silhouette, which sported six tightly grouped pistol shots, all perfectly centered on the Drone's midsection. A perfect score.

"Holy…" the officer in the next booth, Paul, complimented. "That's amazing! You got a better grouping than Juno!" The redhead smiled smugly to himself and retrieved his paper trophy.

Juno sat back and watched as the selectees posted Max's target next to his for closer scrutiny. Congratulations and pats on the back came from all around, everyone eager to enjoy the moment a student surpassed a teacher. No one noticed as Juno stepped away from the group, and slipped out into an adjoining hallway. No one but a curious blonde.

* * *

The Captain sat in the complete silence of the dark hallway for a moment, looking down at his own hands, flexing them, breathing in and out. He didn't notice the door behind him open a crack, and a blue eye peer at him from the next room.

"Vela," Juno called his sister on his comm radio. "I'm going to take a break for a bit. Can you finish up at the range?"

"Sure thing," Vela's voice came over the radio. "Anybody beat your score?"

"Remember Max? He got a better grouping than me. Perfect score," Juno informed.

"Grouping by whose standards? Yours or theirs?"

"The point is…" Juno dismissed. "I think he's got what it takes. More than the rest. I only hope he doesn't choke when he gets into a live situation."

* * *

_Several weeks later…_

"Angie!" Max called out, entering his new office space at UMHQ. He and the other officers were now full members of the Jet Force Corps, and Max had just received a medal of commendation for his outstanding performance during the training program. He'd been assigned to Jet Force Aries along with his partner, a blonde tech specialist named Angie.

"In here," Angie answered him, sitting behind her desk in the office.

Max strode across the room, taking a seat across from her and placing a placard on the table. The certificate was emblazoned in gold, honoring Max for his accomplishment.

"Everybody was at the ceremony but you," Max pointed out. "This was a pretty big honor… why was everyone but _my_ partner there?"

"Something's been bugging me," Angie answered flatly. "And I don't think you should take that award too seriously."

"Is that jealousy I hear?" Max held his hand up to his ear. "I know people will forget about this eventually, but let me enjoy my moment. Please. I passed every obstacle, every test, every challenge, and even scored higher than our instructor on the firing range on my first try!"

"Yeah…" Angie sat back in her chair, rubbing her forehead. "About that."

"About what?"

"The firing range. That's what's been bugging me."

"Why?" Max questioned. "You don't think I cheated do you?"

"What?" Angie scrunched her brows. "No! Here, come look at this." She pointed to her computer screen, and Max stood up and slid around the table for a better view.

"So… what am I looking at here?" Max gave up, uninterested.

"These are the pictures taken of our targets after our shooting session. The one on the right is yours, and the first one is Juno's."

"Okay, I still don't see the problem. My shots are better than his, hands down."

"That's because you're only looking at the surface. The image for the target was taken from a CBT I helped design for new recruits about Drone's and their anatomy. If you overlay the image of the Drone's circulatory system…"

Angie pressed a couple of buttons on her keyboard, and a diagram of the Drone's inner workings appeared on top of the target data. Max's eyes widened as he began to see the truth.

"All your shots were in the midsection, but only two of your shots actually hit any vital organs. In comparison, when you look at Juno's, each of his shots match up perfectly with a major artery or heart cavity in the typical Drone's body. Every one of his shots was potentially fatal."

"That's ridiculous!" Max stood back and away from the desk. "It's a coincidence, has to be. No one can shoot that accurately!"

"Think about it, Max," Angie calmly explained. "Why did we use paper instead of a holo evaluation? If we'd used the hologram trainer, the program would have taken the Drone's anatomy into account, and divided up the scores accordingly. When you put these scores into the holo trainer, these are the scores you get…"

Two numbers popped up on the screen. In front of Max's target, one hundred-seventeen. In front of Juno's, one hundred-fifty. A perfect score.


	22. The Remnants

__Recommended listening: "Hand Call" from the Total Recall Coundtrack by Harry Gregson Williams.

* * *

_Present Day..._

"Aries?" Juno's eyes opened wide. "What are you guys doing here?!" He kept his gun raised, not in suspicion, but in disbelief.

"What are _we_ doing here?" Max flipped around. "What are _you_ doing here? We thought you were dead! We got a message from HQ saying you got ambushed at Goldwood, and that since there'd been no further communication, that you and your team were presumed K.I.A."

"_We're_ here investigating Sekhmet, and a strange communique we received," Angie helped explain. "We weren't able to crack the encryption, but the message was broadcast on all frequencies. Since it pinpointed the Sekhmet's exact location, HQ figured it couldn't hurt to check it out."

Juno could hardly believe his eyes. It had been him, Vela and Lupus against the Drone Army for as long as he could remember. The fact that reinforcements, specifically ones that he himself had trained, were here to help caught him completely by surprise. He'd known the other Jet Force teams had been deployed… but he just never expected to _see_ them.

"Not that we don't trust your trigger finger… but would you mind pointing your gun somewhere else?" Angie leaned to one side, trying to ease out of the line of sight of Juno's pistol.

"Oh," Juno quickly lowered his gun. "Sorry."

"Weren't you explicitly ordered _not_ to get involved with the Drone Army?" Max inquired. "What the hell are you doing way out here?"

"Meeting a contact," Juno informed them. "Any plans for non-involvement went out the window when my team got attacked. You know that message you got? It was meant for us. Gemini. I'm trying to find the person who sent it."

"So we're going the same way then," Angie summarized. "We traced the origin of the message to the Navigation Room at the front of the ship. It'll be nice to have some company. I was getting tired of this guy's constant mouth breathing. His breath smells something awful."

Max delivered a quick jab to Angie's shoulder, and she punched him back.

"Sounds good to me," Juno agreed. "Fill me in on what the heck is going on in this edge of the galaxy on the way."

* * *

"So you've been following a _light_ this whole time?" Angie asked. Juno had filled them in on the Phantom's Light Show. Max was leading the way down the corridor, with the other two guarding his rear.

"Yeah, but it stopped as soon as you two showed up."

The three silently crept through the halls, ducking past patrols and avoiding detection by cameras. Juno tapped Max on the shoulder, taking point. With the Phantom was no longer guiding him, he found himself in disbelief at the sheer number of Drone soldiers walking the halls. The place was thick with them. Even though he was in expert in stealth and recon, Juno found himself doubling back and waiting for patrols to move on for more than half an hour.

"This place is crawling with Drones," Angie stated as she took point. "Where did the Drone Resistance get all these guys from?"

"Resistance?" Juno asked quizzically.

"There's a small group of Drones still devoted to Mizar and his teachings of galactic domination, despite his demise." Max explained. "They're vengeful against the Tribals and against Humans, and are being led by a Red Drone named Hacthor. They're calling themselves 'The Remnants'."

"Hacthor is using Sekhmet as his base of operations," Angie helped. "All of the Drone assaults on Tribal settlements recently have been launched from here. But our intel told us they were a small force, maybe a hundred strong at the most. From what we're seeing here, though, it''s like a new army."

"The refugees," Juno filled in as he made the connection. "All these Drones are from Mizar's Palace." Max and Angie exchanged glances, then looked at Juno.

"How could you know that?" Max inquired. "That colony is full of war victims and untrained civilians. You're telling me _they're _the ones occupying this place?"

"I went there," Juno explained. "To Mizar's Palace. The place is a ghost town. There wasn't a life sign on the entire planet. Well… there was one, but he didn't last long. Someone gathered what was left of the Drones and trained them. Trained them good, too. These guys are smarter, faster, and tougher than Mizar's troops."

The team closed in on the entrance to the Navigation Room. The entrance was being guarded by seven drones, two watching each corridor and three in front of the door itself. Max and Angie slid close to Juno, and all three observed the station.

"See what I mean?" Juno pointed out. "No lounging around or goofing off on duty, and increased security measures. Somebody's paranoid. Who's this Hacthor guy? Got any more info on him?"

"Not really," Angie shook her head. "He was a leader of a small division back during Mizar's reign, most of which joined his Resistance. I don't believe he received any special training compared to others. By all indication, he's just another soldier."

"Bull crap," Juno dismissed. He went back to analyzing the situation. "It doesn't look like we're going to be able to go in without alerting someone."

"Fall back and regroup?" Max suggested.

"Nah, I'm on a tight schedule," Juno drew three grenades and pulled their pins. He gave a quick count to three, then threw them at the three groups of Drones. Each bounced once in front of the unsuspecting soldiers, giving them only enough time to recognize what it was before it exploded in a fierce blast of blue plasma. Limbs and green blood splattered in all directions, decorating the hallway with a grisly display of what was left of the security detail.

"All right, somebody definitely heard that," Juno announced. "Let's get in there."

The three Jet Force Officers ran over to the entrance to the navigation room, each making sure to check their corners and adjacent hallways. The door access panel indicated locked.

"Door's locked," Angie stated. "It's going to be a while before I can open it either. You guys will have to cover me."

"Or…" Juno's voice trailed off.

"Or?" Max asked. "Or what?"

"Or we ask nicely," Juno replied simply. He stepped in front of the nearest security camera and looked directly into it. "Can you let us in? It's okay… you can trust me. I've trusted you so far."

"Are you crazy?" Angie asked with her mouth wide open. "There's no way tha-"

Her sentence was cut off by the sound of the door unlocking and sliding open slowly with a hiss. Juno cautiously walked up to and into the Navigation Room, casting a raised eyebrow over his shoulder at the Aries team. The duo followed his lead, slipping into the room behind him.

The ship's usual chrome and blood red architecture continued into this new area, and sported six navigation stations positioned in a circle around a center station. At each of the navigation stations, a White Drone sat in front of a computer screen. Juno was alarmed at first, then relaxed on closer inspection. All of the drones were unconscious, and unresponsive.

The center navigation station was raised higher than the others, with steps leading up to it. It was set up like a meeting table, with a the hologram being projected above a large round table with chairs in the middle of the room, currently displaying an image of Rith Essa. A control console for the center navigation station was positioned at the far end of the table.

Juno ascended the steps to the main navigation console, with Aries hot on his tail. The front door closed behind them and locked, sealing them inside. Juno crested to last few steps, and cautiously stepped around the table to the far seat, gun trained forward. Max and Angie stayed behind Juno as he approached.

Sitting at the chair wasn't a Drone, or even a person. A pair of too large blue eyes peered at Juno from a chrome metal body resting on the cushioned seat. A wave of nostalgia washed over Juno as he locked gazes with the small, limbless droid confined to the pedestal in front of him.

"…Floyd?" Juno whispered.

"Yes, but I'm afraid our reunion is going to have to wait," the droid spoke quickly. "I'm afraid your friends aren't as friendly as they may have led you to believe."

A whirring noise behind Juno started, and he felt two barrels press against his backside. One he recognized as a Plasma Shotgun from it's telltale whine. The other barrel, narrow and smooth, could be nothing but a Jet Force Pistol.

"Raise your hands. Slowly," Angie ordered with menace in her voice. "You may be fast… but you're not _that_ fast."

* * *

Author's Note: Dum, dum, DAAAAAAAAAAAAM! Back on the webs after a 2-3 month absence, here's your reward for your patience! Stay tuned, one more chapter coming up after this!


	23. Subject Nine

Recommended listening: "Rooftop Chase" from the Total Recall Soundtrack by Harry Gregson Williams.

* * *

"Put your gun on the table and put your hands up. Now," Max reinforced Angie's order. The barrels of their guns burrowed into the back of the lone Captain. Taking care to move slowly, Juno placed his Jet force pistol on the round table while Floyd and Aries looked on.

After dropping his gun, Juno slowly lifted his hands above his head. Though his right hand was empty, his left was holding something. The two operatives froze as they recognized the item clasped firmly in his fingers. Both took several steps back.

It was a remote detonator.

"I knew someone, or several someones were involved in what happened on Goldwood, thanks to Jeff," Juno explained as he slowly turned. "The warning the Drones received that we were arriving there came from Earth. As happy as I was to see you two, I still took precautions. Both of you have a remote mine strapped to your back. I flip this switch, and you get a closed casket funeral."

Angie and Max's eyes flitted to each other's backs. A flashing red light was firmly positioned at the base of their torso armor. They realized Juno must've planted the mines when tapping their backs to switch out point man while making their way through the ship.

"We can't let you leave Sekhmet, Juno," Max recovered. "Floyd is a valuable asset. We need the information he has, and we can't let you have it. Non negotiable."

"Ummm-," Floyd started.

"Quiet," Angie silenced him.

"Let me tell you how this works," Juno retraced. "Your trigger finger moves, I blow you up. My thumb moves, and you shoot me. In both cases, we all die. In both cases, any information I gave you goes nowhere, my team is presumed dead, and my family is safe… for the moment. I view that as an acceptable loss."

It was a standoff. The hesitation was so thick in the air that Juno could practically taste it. If Aries died here, they would get nothing. No droid, no information, and no survivors. Seconds ticked by as the rogue Jet Force team weighed their options.

"Juno-," Floyd spoke.

"Not now, Floyd," Juno cut him off.

_WHAM!_

The front doors to the Navigation Room exploded into the room, converting from protective structures to dangerous ballistic missiles in an instant. For three trained soldiers, there was no shock, or awe. Only reaction.

Juno ducked as one half of the double doors flew by his head, then leaped towards Floyd, wrenching him from his chair and rolling off the raised center platform. Max and Angie dropped to the floor and slid off on the other side of the platform. As Juno landed, he pressed down on the Remote Detonator.

Two Remote Mines detonated overhead, near the ceiling. Angie and Max had already removed the bombs and thrown them away. Juno wondered if he trained them a little too well. He landed feet first on the ground and came up to a ready stance, drawing his machine gun. Floyd, thoroughly rattled, was safely tucked under his left arm.

"Subject Nine," Floyd muttered. "This is an unfavorable situation."

"Subject Nine?" Juno directed at Floyd. "Who's that?"

"Do you remember the insectoid we lobotomized on the fourth planet from the sun?" Floyd asked.

"You mean the beetle whose brains we blew out on Tawfret?" Juno translated. "Yeah, why?"

"Imagine him, except without the human concept that causes laughter."

"Humor, Floyd," Juno filled in the blanks for him. "It's called humor."

Several sets of blood red eyes appeared through the smoke in the doorway, looking through the entrance at the three humans. Gemini on the left, Aries on the right. The beast stepped forward into the Navigation room, revealing it's full and terrible form.

Four heads bobbed and weaved from it's main body, a carapace that walked on six legs. The separate heads seemed to move independently, and had no mouth; only a protruding snout that extended several feet in front of the face. The dark purple exoskeleton covering the neck of the heads slid across itself like scales, and it's eyes were deep, black pits.

A whirring sound came from the other side of the platform, and moments later a glowing blast of white hot energy burst towards the monster. The four heads reacted immediately, shooting bright red beams from the opening on their face. The beams intertwined in mid-air, and spread a translucent red wall between Subject Nine and the incoming Plasma Ball.

The energy from the charged Plasma shot disseminated harmlessly as it came into contact with the energy shield. Juno heard the distinct sound of Pistol fire, and looked on as the bullets bounced off the shield like rubber pellets. Both attacks had been completely ineffective. The wall dissolved after the danger passed, and Subject Nine reared all of it's heads at once.

A tremendous shriek shook the ship, a piercing noise that burrowed into the skulls of the three humans in the room. The pain was unbearable. It felt like something was crawling into Juno's skull, trying to tear it apart from the inside. He screamed and clutched at his head, then slammed the side of his helmet, enabling their built-in noise dampeners. At once, the shrieking sound lowered in intensity.

"Juno!" Floyd's voice came in over Juno's radio. "Is your condition stable?"

"I'm all right…" Juno replied. "I think. If we're lucky, Aries didn't have the same idea."

"You really think we'd go down that easy?" Max's voice came in over the radio as well. "Our comms are still connected, Juno."

"Max," Angie's voice came over the communicator. "Look at the Drones!"

The White Drones, scientists, that had been sitting at the six Navigation Stations at ground level were most definitely dead. Green blood oozed out from their eyes, mouth, and antenna bases. Their heads sagged, like someone had left a balloon out for a few days.

"It crushed their skulls with sound," Juno realized.

Subject Nine lowered it's heads, presumably because it was done shrieking. Each head began to move independently again, snaking left and right, almost indecisively. The highest head looked directly at Juno, and a red light appeared at the end of it's nose, growing brighter by the second.

"Ooooh, crap," he breathed. Juno sprinted to his left, trying to get something in-between him and Subject Nine. He managed to leap behind the center platform before a blast of searing red energy obliterated the spot he was standing in moments before.

A hail of red beams soared over Juno's head. Subject Nine was on the attack, and whatever got in it's way didn't last long.

"Max, shoot him now!" Juno ordered.

"Why should I cover you?" Max questioned over the headset. He and Angie were keeping their heads down behind a console several feet away. They were more than happy to let Subject Nine direct it's efforts towards Juno. "Out of sight, out of mind. I'd rather not draw attention to us."

"It uses those beams to form it's shield," Juno explained. "If it's shooting at me…"

"Then it can't defend itself," Angie finished.

"Actually-," Floyd began to speak.

"Now!" Max and Angie stood up from behind their cover, blasting away at the four headed monstrosity. Angie fired off several Plasma Blasts while Max fired away with his pistol, six shots in succession. Almost instantaneously, three of the four heads directed their beams together, creating a partial shield while the fourth continued shooting from a small groove in the shield's side.

"Awww, crap," Angie and Max spoke in chorus. Both ducked back down behind the console as a barrage of energy beams rained on their position. Both groups hiding spots were becoming increasingly more compromised as the enemy's attack whittled down their cover.

"Subject Nine possesses superior offensive _and_ defensive capabilities," Floyd explained. "I believe a tactical retreat would be most favorable in this situation."

"Thanks, I noticed," Juno replied sarcastically. "Turns out that thing is blocking our only exit. Any other bright ideas?"

"You are mistaken," Floyd corrected, "There are connections to several other vital systems in this room, two of which having ample space and conditions for an escape route. Also, there are fifteen-"

_"Where?!" _Juno shouted.

"There is a ventilation port above Aries' position and a connection to the Main Drainage system three panels behind us."

Max and Juno made eye contact from behind their respective covers. Neither said a word, or even nodded. It was just an understanding, of sorts. Max aimed upwards and blasted the hinges on the ventilation duct while Juno carved a hole in the drainage piping with his machine gun.

"I guess this is the part where we split up," Max stated the obvious. He and Angie crouched, poised and ready to leap into the overheads. "If we see each other again…"

"It'll be far too soon," Juno finished."I don't know why, and I don't care why, either. I'm going to get to the bottom of this, and when I do, there'll be hell to pay."

"Heh," Max scoffed in jest. "Good luck with that. Keep watching your back, or I'll put a bullet in it."

With that, Angie high jumped to the ventilation port. Using her escape as a distraction, Juno sprinted for the drainage pipe, sliding inside just before Subject Nine made his position. The smell of sewage and decay assaulted Juno's nose as his boots sank into the muck. Juno activated his armor's oxygen reserves as he began to walk towards the main drainage header. Noxious fumes were just as likely to kill him as Subject Nine or Aries.

"I did not expect Aries to let us go as easily as they did," Floyd spoke.

_Plop._

Something landed in the water just behind Juno, and he quickly glanced at it. Floating on the surface of the water, just out of reach, was a primed, high yield Cluster Bomb.

"That's because they didn't."


End file.
